RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1961
https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/vd6724704
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch

RASHKB and author

Vol. 1 (1961)

ISSN 1991-7295

7

who stressed the importance of directing the Society's attention to practical projects and to natural history, geology and botany as well as to literary pursuits. It may not be generally known that it was as the result of the efforts of the Royal Asiatic Society that Government was persuaded to grant a piece of ground for a Botanical Garden which was projected in the time of Sir John Davis and carried into effect when Sir John Bowring was President. Following this precedent we had three excellent lectures illustrated with a wealth of coloured slides by the following:

Captain A. M. Macfarlane on "Birds of Hong Kong" illustrated by coloured slides and a tape record of bird songs and calls. Miss B. T. Chiu on "Flowers of Hong Kong" illustrated Mr. P. A. Nixon's coloured slides, and

Mr. J. D. Bromhall on "The Marine Fauna of Hong Kong" illustrated by coloured slides.

These lectures were in part designed to appeal to the educational circles and it is hoped that with wider publicity we may have the benefit of more members from the schools and colleges of the Colony.

In concluding my reference to the lectures and addresses I wish to record our deep gratitude to those who have contributed so richly and so readily to the success of our first year's record.

All except two of the meetings held last year were held in the rooms of the British Council and the Branch owes a debt of gratitude to the generous assistance of the British Council and of its Representative, Mr. R. E. Lawry, for affording us, free of charge, the use of these rooms as well as of the projector and operator for the slides in illustration of the lectures. Without this assistance it would have been difficult for the Branch to carry on as the moderate yearly subscription of $20.00 per member would not otherwise go far towards paying our expenses, including the hire of rooms and the issue to every member of a free copy of the Journal of the Branch.

The Hong Kong Branch has no home of its own. It is indicative of the importance which Governments attached to the Royal Asiatic Society 100 years ago that the Government of Hong Kong granted to the Hong Kong Branch a room in the Supreme Court, where it could hold its meetings and house the valuable library which it built up and which it had eventually to hand over to the Morrison Education Society.

In Shanghai the Government granted to the North China Branch a parcel of land on which, with the aid of generous grants from The Shanghai Municipal Council and the French Council
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RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1963
https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/4m90m091v
2

marvels of the life under the waters around us in the brilliant colours of Mr. Bromhall's underwater photography could not have been revealed to us a quarter of a century ago.

The lectures last year covered a wide variety of subjects, following the policy advised by the first President of this Society in Hong Kong, Sir John Davis, who stressed the importance of directing the attention of the Society to practical projects and to natural history, ethnology and botany as well as to linguistic and literary pursuits. The wealth of our local talent was strikingly shown by the fact that half of the lectures were given by scholars and experts from amongst our own members. The lectures given during the year were:

January 15th
February 26th
Dr. Herold J. Wiens* "Some of China's 35 Million Non-Chinese"
Mr. J. D. Pearson "Recent Development in Oriental Studies in Great Britain"
"Buddhism in Modern Life"
Sir Lindsay Ride "The Old Protestant Cemetery in Macao"
Mr. Ma Meng "Recent Changes in the Chinese Language"
April 2nd
Ven. Khema "Hong Kong Flowers"
May 7th
Miss B. T. Chiu
June 18th
Mr. J. L. Cranmer-Byng "The Old British Legation at Peking 1860-1959"
July 16th
Professor L. C. Goodrich "The Development of Printing in China and Its Effect on the Renaissance under the Sung (960-1279)"
August 20th
September 3rd

* Printed in Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. 2, 1962,
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RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1963
https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/4m90m091v
September 27th

October 16th

Show of three documentary films made by Mr. Hugh Gibb for B.B.C. Television:

"Rituals of Rice" (colour) describes rice growing in Japan and old Shinto practices associated with transplanting and harvest festivals.

"Zen" (black and white) is the first film to be made in a Zen Buddhist monastery in Japan. Permission was granted only after several months of negotiation and then the film had to be shot in one morning.

"Dance and Drama" (colour) won the Gran Premio award for T.V. documentaries at the Bergamo Film Festival in 1961 and describes the evolution of dance and drama in Japan including the Kagura, the traditional village drama, and abridged performances of puppet plays, Noh and Kabuki theatre.

Three further films made by Mr. Hugh Gibb: "The Dyaks" tells the story of the communal life and customs of the Sarawak "Long Houses." "Birds' Nest Soup" was made in the Great Cave of Niah in Sarawak, where edible birds' nests are collected from the walls and ceilings to prepare one of the most expensive delicacies in the world.

"Turtle Island" takes place on a small island off the coast of Sarawak where as many as one hundred turtles come in the course of one night to dig their nests and lay their eggs. The film tells the story of the cumbersome process and of the scientific work on these edible turtles, the collection and sale of whose eggs is a considerable industry.

The lectures in January and February by Professor S. H. Hansford on "Some Problems of Ancient Chinese Jades and Bronzes" and by Mr. R. D. Bromhall on "Underwater Photography in Eastern Seas" will be included in the Report for the coming year.
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RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1964
https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r
# PRESIDENT'S REPORT

1963

The year 1963-1964 - the fourth year of the Society in Hong Kong after its revival - was a very successful one. The membership has steadily increased each year. At the end of the first year, we had 160 members, of whom 20 were life members; at the end of the second, 266, of whom 25 were life members; at the end of the third year, 280, of whom 33 were life members; and at the end of last year, the fourth, we had a total of 371, of whom 41 were life members. Since then, more than 30 have joined as ordinary members and 2 as life members.

The great increase in the number of members last year is doubly welcome in that it reflects the increasing interest of the younger generation in the objects and activities of the Society. It is a healthy and gratifying sign of the intellectual vitality of the young people of the Colony to see them join. We rely largely on them to ensure the future success of the Society.

During 1963, we had twelve meetings, all of which were very well attended. On several occasions, the capacity of the City Hall was fully taxed. The expedition to Tung Chung on Lantao Island was a highly popular feature.

The lectures given were:

January 21st

March 4th

March 25th

April 22nd

Professor S. H. Hansford

"Some Problems of Ancient Chinese Jades and Bronzes"

(Illustrated by colour slides)

J. D. Bromhall

"Underwater Photography in Eastern Seas"

(Illustrated by colour slides made by the speaker)

Dr. Maurice Freedman

"Social Anthropology and the Study of China"

Miss B. T. Chiu

"Flowers of Hong Kong"

(Illustrated by colour slides taken by Miss Chiu and Mr. F. A. Nixon)
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RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1983
https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v
p. 49. Drage, Charles, Two-gun Cohen, London, 1954, p. 135.

p. 53. Addison, Ancestor Worship, p. 54.

p. 54. Mayers, Reader's Manual, p. 157.

p. 55. Buss, Kato, Studies in the Chinese Drama, Boston, 1922, pp. 75-76.

p. 57. Ibid, p. 62.

p. 57. Couling, Encyclopaedia, p. 148.

p. 60. Smith, D. Howard, Religions, p. 163.

p. 60. Teichman, Eric, Travels of a Consular Officer in North-West China, Cambridge, 1921, p. 148.

p. 62. Milne, Rev. William C., Life in China, London, 1857, p. 97.

p. 64. Cockrill, W. Ross, The Buffaloes of China, Rome, 1976, p. 32.

p. 65. Ball, Things, p. 125.

p. 65. Arlington, L. C., Through The Dragon's Eyes, London, 1931, p. 132.

p. 67. Johnston, Lion and Dragon, pp. 181-182.

p. 70. Teng Ssu-yu and Fairbank, John K., China's Response to the West, Harvard, 1954, pp. 24-25.

p. 72. Endacott, G. B., A History of Hong Kong, London, 1958, p. 109.

p. 75. Krone, Rev. Mr., 'A Notice of the Sanon District', Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol VII, 1967, pp. 124-125.

p. 75. Wesley-Smith, Peter, Unequal Treaty, 1898-1997, Hong Kong, 1980, p. 191.

p. 78. Doolittle, Social Life, Vol II, p. 169.

p. 78. Lin Yutang, My Country, p. 98.

p. 82. Mayers, Reader's Manual, pp. 359-360.

p. 86. Doolittle, Social Life, Vol I, pp. 207-208.

p. 90. Bredon and Mitrophanow, Moon Year, p. 395.

p. 90. Williams, C. A. S., Outlines, p. 254.

p. 92. Broomhall, Martyred Missionaries, p. xii.

p. 98. Couling, Encyclopaedia, p. 328.

p. 98. Arlington, Dragon's Eyes, p. 125.

p. 100. Ibid, p. 100.

p. 101. De Groot, Religious System, Vol I, p. 14.

p. 106. Hong Kong Weekly Press and China Overland Trade Report, Hong Kong, June 1903.
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