RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1964 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r 136 BOOK REVIEWS brush and the most excellent ink, washed his hands and cleaned the ink stone as if to receive an important guest. He let the thoughts settle in his soul, and then he work” (page 46). Among other essays and jotting here translated should be mentioned Ching Hao's "Notes on Brush-work" and the Hua Yü Lu #4 ("Notes on Painting") by Shih-t'ao of the Ch'ing dynasty. One sentence from Shih-t'ao's essay is typical of his attitude: "When the superior man borrows from the old masters, he does it in order to open a new road Two illustrations gave me special pleasure: "Misty Hills" by Ch'en Shun and "Peach-blossom Spring" by Shih-t'ao (plates 18 and 19). The book is equipped with a full index of Chinese names, terms and books with their Chinese characters. This new edition of an important work by the doyen of Western authorities on Chinese art can be recommended to all who are interested in Chinese painting and it serves as introduction to Sirén's magnum opus, his Chinese Painters, Leading Masters and Principles in seven volumes.* J. L. C-B. THE ART OF CHINESE POETRY. James J. Y. Liu. Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1962. 166 pages. 30/- Mr. James Liu's book is a fine introduction to the poetry of China for the uninitiated, and a substantial source of information and enjoyment for the sophisticated. Of a moderate size, the book is divided into three sections. Part I consists mainly of information, Part II of interpretation and Part III of criticism. The subject is generously illustrated with short poems translated by Mr. Liu and others. A remarkable feature of this book is the way in which Chinese poems are translated. Mr. Liu has in many cases followed the original verse form and rhyme scheme, a difficult and painstaking process requiring considerable virtuosity and originality. What he does, goes contrary to prevailing fashion and one is not surprised to find the critic of the Times Literary Supplement, while maintaining the general excellence of the book, taking *Lund Humphries, 1956. Profusely illustrated, ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1966 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/bz60k0811 NOTES AND QUERIES 163 under the name mani. Its cultivation in West Africa began early and it is not surprising that it spread quickly to the Arab countries of the Middle East. Some plant-geographers believe that it was introduced to India and Ceylon from China but there is as great a likelihood that it reached these three areas in Portuguese ships at more or less the same time. The Arabic al-luimûn, adapted from Persian limu(n), is the source of such modern European forms of English as lemon, Spanish limón and Portuguese limão. The Cantonese ningmung may be derived from a Portuguese metropolitan or dialectal form. The modern Macanese form, used at the present in Hong Kong, is limang which appears in the Ao Men Chỉ Lüeh as lei-máng, according to Mr. Gomes's romanisation, That the Cantonese form ends in mung and the Macanese in mang is not an unsurmountable obstacle, since, if the sixteenth century Cantonese borrowed the word from European Portuguese speaking the standard dialect of those times, they would have had some difficulty in pronouncing the syllable mão which probably sounded like mao uttered with the nostrils pinched. Such a sound could be represented equally well (or inaccurately) by the Cantonese sounds Mung and mang in all possible tones and reduced to writing by any convenient character chosen ad lib. The authors of the Ao Mun Chi Lüeh had obviously some difficulty in representing this Portuguese suffix in their glossary of Cantonese terms. For example, cumarão (prawn) appears as kám-pá-long (cf. Hong Kong Macanese cambrang), tufão (typhoon) is recorded as tou-fóng (cf. Hong Kong Macanese tufang), jambolão (a kind of fruit) is iâm-po-long (cf. Hong Kong Macanese jambolang). In other places -ão appears as -eng as in si-tát-teng for cidadão (citizen) and a-ueng for afião (opium). More like the modern Macanese dialectal resolution are fu-káng (store) which is the Portuguese fogão, pronounced fogang in Hong Kong Macanese; ka-lá-sâng (trousers) from Portuguese calcão, carsang in Macanese. In short, if the Cantonese name had been derived from the dialectal form we should have expected something like ningmang but if the borrowing was early and from a "standard" Portuguese pronunciation of limão the final syllable could have been heard ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1974 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077 100 R. G. IRWIN 25 Lettres édifiantes et curieuses, écrites des Missions Étrangères (Paris, 1781, nouvelle édition), Vol. XVIII, 455-6. 26 SKCS catalogue, 49/3b. 27 See W. Fuchs, op. cit., 101; also Chinesische und Mandjurische handschriften und seltene drucke (Wiesbaden, 1966), 137, no. 43. 28 T'ao Hsiang, Ku-kung tien-pen shu-k’u hsüan-ts'un-mu (Peiping, 1933), 2/1a. 29 Biography by Fang Chao-ying in ECCP I: 65-6. See also his biography of Galdan in ibid. I: 267-8. 30 Any work ordered by the emperor should be listed in the Ssu-k'u ch'üan-shu catalogue. But no title remotely resembling this is included. My colleague, Mr. Fang Chao-ying, hazards the guess that de Mailla is referring here to Ming-chi chi-shih by a Fukienese scholar, Lin Shih-shan (T.), a native of T'ung-an in Ch'üan-chou prefecture, whose work in 10 or more chüan on the conquest of Fukien covers the years 1646-1683. This has never been published; de Mailla must have consulted a manuscript copy, several of which are known to have existed. Cf. Liu Hsien-t'ing (1648-95, see ECCP 1: 521) in his Kuang yang tsa-chi (Shanghai, 1957), 2/83, who mentions learning that a certain Yang Yu-liang had seen a copy in Peking. 31 A detailed letter concerning this trip and his observations was written to Père de Colonia in August, 1715; see Lettres édifiantes (1781), Vol. XVIII, 413-67. 32 de Mailla, op. cit., Vol. XI, 369, n. 1. 33 Idem. 34 de Mailla, op. cit., Vol. XII, 1, n. 1. The reference is to the 1703-76 edition of Lettres édifiantes, in 34 vols. 35 de Mailla, op. cit., Vol. XII, 61-62, notice historique. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1975 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d 80 HELGA WERLE The girl comes out of hiding, and the fortune-teller takes her to safety. SU LIU-NIANG (SIXTH DAUGHTER SU) *** Drama in 10 acts, lasting about 3.4 hours. Dramatis personae: Su family: Uncle, the eldest of the Su clan Mr. Su and Mrs. Su, their daughter, Liu-niang (6th young lady),* her maid, T'ao-hua, 1 girl-servant and 2 man-servants Act I young master Yang young master Kuo and his wet-nurse cousin of Liu-niang Tao-hua the maid comes to the river returning from Hsi-lu with a parasol, gay silk trousers and jacket, her hair in two knots one over each ear garlanded with flowers, the temple hair hanging down in two long strands which are adorned with coloured silk-strings. She calls the ferryman [old man-servant type with white beard], who arrives rowing with an oar. There are no other stage props. The movement of the boat is all indicated by mime. T'ao-hua hides behind the parasol fooling the ferryman and suddenly surprises him by showing her face. Then she pretends to be afraid to jump on the ferry, so the old man tries hard to bring the boat closer. With a wicked smile she jumps on the boat with all her strength, causing it almost to turn over. They perform a beautiful dance to balance the boat and she pretends to be terribly frightened. They then start chatting and T'ao-hua proposes to sing a couplet each, composing it as they go along. But which of them first says things that are wrong or cannot rhyme has lost. The old man starts, "In the first month all flowers bloom...". T'ao-hua carries on, "In the 2nd month the cotton tree blooms" and so on. *The names of sons and daughters of important families (those with high doors) in these operas are called, for example, Su Liu-niang, meaning the sixth daughter of the Su family. The parents Su have only one daughter, but she is still called the sixth daughter because she is the sixth girl born in this generation to all the brothers of Mr. Su. The same is the case for Wu-niang meaning 5th daughter, called such although she is the only child of her parents. Ch'en San is the third (son) of the Ch'en clan. The term 'niang' is an address for a young lady, whereas the word 'chieh' 'sister' is used for a girl of humble birth. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1975 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d NOTES ON CHIUCHOW OPERA 81 until the 12th month. Then it is the ferryman's turn again and he happily goes on, "In the 13th month." but T'ao-hua catches him, "Haha! You have lost because there is no 13th month”. They argue but he cannot win, and now they realise that the current has taken the boat too far downstream. This is a most delightful scene, a fully choreographed dance with the music based on Chiuchow folk tunes. The music and the dance are fresh and cheerful. This opening shows characteristic features of Chiuchow opera; it is beautiful, lighthearted and full of songs and dances. Act II takes place in the garden of the Kuo family's mansion in Hsi-lu. Hsi-lu is the native place of Mrs. Su who is of the family Kuo. As she has only one daughter Liu-niang she always sends her to Hsi-lu to study and to play in the company of her cousin Kuo Chi-ch'un, with whom she has fallen in love. Liu-niang decided to declare her love to him today. She carefully drops a jade-pendant, and when she hears his steps, hides and lets him search for a while, and then throws a flower at him. He now expresses his understanding of the purpose of this meeting, but she of course denies it, blushing with embarrassment. He finds the jade-pendant, and realises how earnest she is about her feelings. So he cannot hold back any longer the news that he is leaving to sit for the civil examination; but they vow that when he comes back they will happily stay together like two butterflies. T'ao-hua appears and watches this scene, and jeers at them. The young lady takes a pin from her hair and asks T'ao-hua to act as go-between, then she hurries away. T'ao-hua gives the pin as a betrothal gift to the cousin, and asks him to take up the question of marriage seriously after his return. Then she follows her young lady. Act III The eldest member of the Su clan visits Mr. and Mrs. Su, and urges them to think of marrying off their daughter. He has a very good match in mind, namely the son of the Yang family who is not only very well-to-do and young but has already passed the District Civil Examination and can call himself Hsiu-tsai (elegant talent). Mr. Su is indeed very pleased to hear of these prospects, and agrees wholeheartedly to this match. After the eldest of the Su clan has left, Mrs. Su accuses her husband of dealing with such an important matter too lightly; agree- ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1975 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d 82 HELGA WERLE ing without giving any thought to it, and above all without hearing the opinion of their daughter about it. But the father repudiates these comments, saying that it is the duty of parents to choose a husband for their daughter and the duty of the daughter to obey. Act IV As soon as the daughter has returned from cousin Kuo's home, the parents inform her about the arranged marriage. Completely shocked she says that this is out of the question, and that they should ask T'ao-hua for the reason. Then she bursts into tears and runs out. T'ao-hua is terribly frightened and follows her, but is summoned back by Mr. Su. Now the questioning begins. A girl servant fetches "the law of the house" [two approx. 60 cm long bamboo-halves fastened together on one side as a handle*]. It comes out that as the daughter spent so many happy years playing and studying with her cousin, the children's fondness for each other has grown into love. They have already openly declared their love and vowed to marry. T'ao-hua is scolded and accused of letting all this happen, and is asked why did she not inform the parents. Mr. Su beats her. The movements of this scene are beautifully mimed and choreographed into dance, as T'ao-hua kneels and whimpers cries for mercy. Mr. Su holds her left hand and mimes to beat her back. She walks in a circle around him using the ai-tze-pu (dwarf-step) very characteristic of Chiuchow opera. It has been suggested that this imitates the shadow-puppet's way of hurried walk. The knees are bent because the puppet has a joint there, but this joint is not controlled. [In this dwarf-step one foot is put on the ground, then that knee is put on the ground, then the other foot, and then the other knee, etc.]. But then the mother scolds the father for bringing their only daughter into such a calamity. They now both listen to T'ao-hua's clever arguments and sympathise with their daughter and her maid. They decide to put off the intended marriage with the Yang family until they find a way out of this contract. Act V Mr. Yang travels with his wet-nurse to Chiuchow to visit the Su family personally. Being betrothed to Su Liu-niang he wants , used for punishment. Page 90 Page 91 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1975 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d NOTES ON CHIUCHOW OPERA 85 she hears the beat of the second night watch she runs around her chamber, throwing up her sleeves in despair. A servant girl brings in her wedding dress folded on a tray. Then Mr. Yang's wet-nurse drops in, calling her already 'wife' of her Hsiu-tsai and promising to come and comb her hair next morning. Then Liu-niang's mother comes to console her. The daughter says, "Mother, how can you send me away! I am your own flesh and blood." Her mother then tells her that they have sent T'ao-hua to Hsi-lu, and it may be that she will not return until tomorrow night. This would mean that Liu-niang would have to leave for the Yang family's residence without her maid. At this thought the daughter pretends to resign herself to her fate. She asks her mother to go to bed and promises that she will do the same. As soon as the mother has left, the daughter decides that on no account will she go to the Yang family. If T'ao-hua does not return with news from her cousin Kuo, she will drown herself in the river. At the 3rd watch she writes her last letter to her parents, and runs out of the house. Act VIII Hurrying to the river, pitying herself, she suddenly bumped into T'ao-hua. And here starts the happy end to this tale. The daughter Su relates that suddenly the Yang family have pressed her parents in agreeing to the marriage on the next day and that now she only has suicide as a solution to her grief. At this moment the handsome cousin Kuo arrives. Having heard of the confusion from T’ao-hua he insists on returning with her in order to put matters straight. T'ao-hua is always alert and watching out, to see whether they are being followed. The old ferryman, who has listened to their conversation, calls T'ao-hua and offers to take the couple across the river to facilitate their elopement. When the three of them are on the ferry Tao-hua asks for Liu-niang's shoes, which she drops on the bank of the river Act IX At sunrise Yang's wet-nurse hurries to Liu-niang's chamber to dress her hair for the wedding. Calling 'Hsiu-tsai Niang' in all directions, she cannot find the girl and quickly alerts the parents. Sear- ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1975 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d 86 HELGA WERLE ching the room they find the parting letter on her desk. The mother starts wailing, cursing her husband. They call the servants to check the house, and the two male servants return and report that they found the back-gate open. They panic, and the wet-nurse rushes out to inform the groom's family. Act X The servants lead the way with lanterns to the river. Mr. and Mrs. Su are followed soon after by the eldest of the Su clan, and by Mr. Yang and his wet-nurse. Then the group meets T'ao-hua and she joins in the search. Mr. Su now accuses Mr. Yang of having pushed their daughter to commit suicide. Mr. Yang reads Liu-niang's last letter but is not impressed. Perhaps it is a trick to avoid the marriage. He will not believe it until he has tangible proof. After walking in many circles they come to the bank of the river, where a servant discovers the shoes of Liu-niang. The parents wail and scold Mr. Yang, and finally the old ferryman approaches with his oar. When asked whether he had seen Liu-niang, he answers that he did not see anybody, but heard a big splash. Whereupon the whole party decides to return home. The ferryman calls back T’ao-hua and triumphantly tells her that he can now finish the couplet of the 13th month, because every so many years there is in fact an intercalary 13th month. And on this gay note the play ends, providing the reason why this opera is colloquially called "T'ao-hua Crosses the River”. Act VIII is the climax of the play and Act IX and X the anti-climax. FOOTNOTE Chiuchow Opera and Peking Opera The repertoire of Chiuchow opera contains plays taken from the Peking opera, as well as plays based on Chiuchow's local traditions. Ch'en San Wu-niang and Su Liu-niang are both typical Chiuchow operas which have no parallel in the Peking opera. Both are elegant and refined literary operas, with a very strong local flavour in the treatment and development of the subject, and in the music and performance style. In a Peking opera the hard laws of society, the five relationships instituted by Confucius, are more important than human happiness; and in Peking opera the same plot would have quite a different dénouement, most probably with a tragic end. How would a well-kept young lady ever dare ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 TEMPLE ORACLES IN A CHINESE CITY A Study of the Use of Temple Oracles in Taichung, Central Taiwan* JULIAN PAS Prelude In the early morning of February 26, 1978, our group of over a hundred pilgrims from Taichung arrived in the city of Peikang, one of the major centres of the Matsu cult. The ch'ao-t'ien temple there was first built in 1694 and enlarged in 1775. The whole previous day had been spent in visiting temples in other places and burning incense to prepare for this solemn visit. As we arrive, the sedan chair of the goddess which we had brought from Taichung is carried toward the temple gates by ten strong men; the pilgrims follow behind, while musicians blow high-pitched trumpets and beat gongs and drums. Soon our group disappears inside the temple gates, while the great bell and drum are beaten to welcome the visiting Matsu. All the courtyards and halls are crowded with worshippers. It is still three weeks before the deity's birthday celebration but already every day large crowds of visitors pour into the small town from all over Taiwan. Peikang is the seat of the mother temple of Matsu on the island, and hundreds of temples claim affiliation with it. While the visiting gods and goddesses are carried into the inner shrine and seated on the altar tables to pay homage to the Peikang Matsu, the crowd of pilgrims go about their private devotions. They offer incense to all the deities enthroned here, pray to Matsu, tell her about their problems and uncertainties at home, and ask her advice. Matsu's counsels have been embodied in her temple To prepare this survey I was greatly inspired by my learned friends Mr. Liu Chih-wan, a research scholar at the Academia Sinica in Taipei, Institute of Ethnology, and by Professor Wolfram Eberhard of the University of California at Berkeley. I am also indebted to the untiring efforts of Miss Ch'en Yu-mei in Taichung, who collected many samples of the temple oracles. I finally wish to recognize my gratefulness to the Tunghai University in Taichung: my team of anthropology students, 1977-78, contributed to the completion of the Taichung sample collection, while the Centre for Environmental Studies kindly offered me office space. (Dr. Pas is professor of Religious Studies at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada,) ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 45 dencies (Hong Kong: Kelly & Walsh, 1920) p. 130; S.H. Peplow and M. Barker, Around and About Hong Kong (2nd revised and enlarged edition, 1931), p. 10. 59 For example, Chao Chun-hao, Yueh-Kang-Ao tao-yu #5 (A guide to Canton, Hong Kong and Macao) (Shanghai: China Travel Agency, 1938) p. 58; Wen Te-chang. ii) Kuang-Chiu t'ieh-lu lu-hsing chih-nan Rířili (A guide to travel on the Canton-Kowloon Railway) (1922) p. 139; T'u yun-fuzli Hsiang-kang tao-yu fi (A guide to Hong Kong) (Shanghai: China Travel Agency, 1940) p. 15. 60 Chiang-shan ku-jen, “Feng-kuang”, part 163. This was a Mr. Liu T'ao §‡ who had descended from one of the original inhabitants of the City. In 1931, he was living in the K'uei-hsing ke. He had copied every inscription there was in the City for sale to visitors. 61 Jarrett, vol. 3, p. 611; "Report on the New Territories, 1899-1912”, Hong Kong Sessional Papers, 1912, pp. 43-63, p. 47. 62 Hsing-che 1, "Lung-chin shih-ch'iao” ¡¡¡ (The Lung-chin bridge [jetty]) in Li Chin-wei $ (ed) Hsiang-kang pai-nien shih dred years of Hong Kong history) (Hong Kong, 1948) p. 93. #2(One hun- 63 John Stuart Thomson, The Chinese (London: T. Werner Laurie, Clifford's Inn, n.d.) p. 62; Jarrett, vol. 3, p. 611. Siu, Chiu-lung ch'eng, p. 38. Quoted by Wesley-Smith, Unequal Treaty, p. 127; an interesting account of the City in the 1930s-50s is provided in Chapter 7. The Colonial Office file dealing with the removal problem in 1933-4 is CO129/546; for the Chinese side of the story, see Wu Pa-ning "Chiu-lung ch'eng chu-min san-t'u pei pi-ch’ien ching-kuo" JuffDWIDE-LOK MESA (An account of the three occasions on which residents of the Kowloon City were forcibly evicted) in Li Chin-wei, p. 89 and Chih-che IL “Chiu-lung ch'eng shih-chien ti chiao-she" ** (Negotiation over the Kowloon City incident) in ibid., pp. 98–101. ז' 1 Other secondary works on the subject include N.J. Miners, "A Tale of Two Walled Cities", Hong Kong Law Journal vol, 12; no. 2 (1982); Peter Wesley-Smith, "Forlorn, Forbidden and Forgotten: Kowloon's Walled City" Kaleidoscope vol. I: no. 3 (February, 1973) 26-33; Mike Davis, “Inside the Walled City” ibid., vol. IV; no. 6 (August, 1976) 5-11; Michael Chiang, "The Development of the Kowloon Walled City" (Student's thesis, School of Architecture, University of Hong Kong. 1979-80). ================================================================================