RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1972 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gm80qf99h Council office, was appointed to fill the vacancy of Hon Secretary as required by Article 11 of our Rules. You will, however, not find her name on the Council list in the papers sent you relating to the business of this Annual General Meeting, for she left the Colony on transfer, only a few months after taking over the duties of Hon. Secretary. We were fortunate in being able to persuade Mr. Michael Smithies, a member of the administrative staff of the University of Hong Kong, to undertake the secretarial duties. We are indeed fortunate in obtaining his services. The Journal. During the first decade of its existence, The Journal has rightly become a recognized repository for information concerning eastern Asia, and is to be found in the shelves of many libraries of cultural and academic institutions throughout the world. Like all such publications however, the cost of maintaining its size and standard has risen tremendously of late and your Council has very reluctantly had to raise the selling price per volume from fifteen to eighteen dollars to meet this additional expenditure. This has been done however without affecting the free issue of one volume per member per year. Members are only affected if they wish to have extra copies; then they, along with non-members, will have to pay at the increased rate for both new issues and for back numbers. Accommodation. This is as much an institutional problem in Hong Kong as it is a problem for private individuals and business firms. The problem affects us in two ways: accommodation for our library and the storage of our journals, and accommodation for our meetings. Regarding the former, for years we have been fortunate in having help from the Librarian of the University of Hong Kong, and from the Hong Kong Representative of the British Council. But in both these cases, our increasing needs can no longer be met without detriment to the space requirements of our friends. We have, therefore, now had to rent godown space for our own bulk needs, although the British Council has very kindly agreed to continue to house our library books on its shelves for the convenience of members. We are most grateful for this help. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1973 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8910rj06r 7 List of activities arranged during 1973: 8 January Mr. James C. Y. Watt "Recent archaeological discoveries in China” (illustrated) 23 January Mr. Pracha Guna-Kasem 1-6 February Mr. James C. Y. Watt 21 February Mr. Michael Smithies Panel presentation on "The culture of Thailand" prior to the Society's tour to Thailand. 26 February Mr. Michael Smithies (Organizer) Art and archaeological tour to Thailand (Bangkok, Pitsanuloke, Sukhothai, Srisachanalai). 7 March Dr. C. M. Turnbull "The impact of western education on the Straits Chinese". 19 March Mr. Quing N. Yng-Wong “Acupuncture" 26 March Dr. Dale M. Craig “Chinese instrumental music” (with performers playing on traditional instruments). 31 March - 1 April Mr. C. M. N. Sahay "Moghul Miniature Painting" (illustrated by slides). 11 April Annual General Meeting followed by a dinner 29 April Professor Brian Lofts (Organizer) Symposium "The fauna of Hong Kong" (with field trips). Professor Murray Groves "The Motu in the modern world: Social Change & Musical Styles among a seafaring people" (illustrated with tape recording and slides). Mr. Ian Watson Visit to the Sikh and Hindu Temples in Happy Valley. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1973 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8910rj06r Plate XI. Hai Jui on a Teochew altar in Singapore, January 1970. (By courtesy of Major Keith Stevens) Plate XII. Tour to Thailand, February 1973; some of the members taking part. From left to right: Mr. H. M. Weinrebe, Mr. D. M. Goodbody, Miss R. E. Carlson, Miss P. I. Young, Mr. R. O'Hara, Mrs. M. O'Hara, Mr. Michael Smithies (tour leader and Hon. Secretary), Miss Moira Knowles (Hon. Secretary from April 1973), Mr. J. S. Anderson, Mrs. W. C. Mao, Dr. P. W. C. Mao, Mr. B. S. McElney, Mr. Hownam-Meek, Mrs. K. Kesterton, Mrs. Hownam-Meek. Not in photograph: Mrs. L. H. Evans, Mr. R. J. Faulkner, Mr. A. H. Forsyth, Mrs. B. Laufer, Miss Lim Laye Tin. (Photograph by courtesy of C.P.A.) ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1974 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077 5 of disease and urbanisation in Singapore and Hong Kong. Finally Dr. Shih Hsiao-yen, Curator of the Far Eastern Department of the Royal Ontario Museum, and Adjunct Professor of the Department of East Asian Studies, University of Toronto, talked on the relationship between Chinese tomb figurines and monumental sculpture. Dr. Shih, who is presently visiting professor at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, illustrated her talk with many striking colour slides. Our overseas trip this year, which took place over five days at the Chinese New Year, proved very popular. It was, like our previous Thailand excursion, very ably led by Mr. Michael Smithies. Forty-one members joined the party, starting at Vientiane, proceeding to Luang Prabang, and returning again to Vientiane. They visited museums, Vat, a silk-weaving village, and other handicraft centres, caves and ceremonies; and they saw a rare performance of classical dancing given by the Royal Lao dancers. It is hoped that we may continue to arrange at least one overseas trip a year and we have already received offers to lead future excursions from two of our members. I regret to say that our proposed trip to China has not advanced very far. On the advice of the China Travel Agency we revised our original proposals, suggesting several small groups of ten to fifteen members—and also the possibility of diversifying, some groups making a longer (approximately three weeks) trip to take in Peking and other northerly areas, and some making a shorter (about ten days) trip to places within Kwangtung Province to include museums, potteries and archeologically interesting areas. Recently members of another learned society in England made a trip to China and we can only hope that we are not too far down China's list of priority groups. ARTS CENTRE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE A few words about the progress of the Hong Kong Arts Centre and our participation. The Society became a constituent member of the Arts Centre in January 1973, paying its entrance fee in February of that year. The Society had long wished to have its own premises both for holding lectures and discussions and for housing its library and archives, but despite efforts it was never able to afford to fulfil these wishes and now with astronomical rents it is clearly most unlikely that it ever will. We joined the Arts Centre so that when its buildings are completed we may enjoy ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1974 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077 The Monuments of Vientiane and Luang Prabang Michael Smithies* The second international tour organized by the Royal Asiatic Society, Hong Kong Branch, went over the Chinese (Lunar) New Year 1974 to Laos. 41 members and their guests visited Vientiane and Luang Prabang from 23 to 27 January, flying directly between Hong Kong and the Laotian capital. Some persons on the tour went ahead to visit Chiengmai in Thailand or Vat Phu in southern Laos and joined up with the main group later. The attractions of the monuments of Vientiane, the administrative capital of the Kingdom of Laos, are slight in comparison to those in the royal capital of Luang Prabang. This is less a reflection of the religious fervour or artistic sensibility of the inhabitants of Vientiane, but a proof of the efficiency of the Siamese sack of the city in 1828 as a reprisal for Chao Anou's attempted attack on Bangkok two years previously and his subsequent alliance with Hué. Vientiane's position in relation to Luang Prabang is ambivalent. Luang Prabang was the original capital of the Kingdom of Lane Xang (a million elephants) which was founded in 1353 by Fa Ngum, the son of a Lao chief who had been in exile in Angkor. King Potisarat moved the capital to Vientiane in 1520 and it was from the more central position of the kingdom, which then included much of the territory now in northeast Thailand, that the most famous Lao monarch, Souligna Vongsa, ruled from 1637-1694. On his death, however, the kingdom split into three, not counting the semi-independent existence of Xieng Khouang in the northeast: Vientiane, in alliance with Burma and a vassal of Annam; Luang Prabang, which at first drew support from China and later Siam; and in the south Champassak, which drew ever closer to Siam. The devastation of Vientiane by the Siamese in 1828 and the elimination of the line of Vientiane left in the centre a power vacuum, which the... Mr. Smithies, at the time of this visit and report, Lecturer in French at the University of Hong Kong, was Secretary of the Hong Kong Branch 1972-73 and Councillor until his departure from the Colony in 1974. He organized and led this visit to Laos. ================================================================================ 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 OVERSEAS MEMBERS: JOHNSON, Mr. & Mrs. Paul K. + JOHNSTON, James J. JUNKER, Mrs. Sibylle KRAMERS, Dr. R. P. - KIDD, S. T. LEAKE, Mrs. Sima B. LECKIE, J. B. H. - + - LYNCH, Rev. P. Francis, M.M. MACK, A. M. McCOY, J. - ORR, Iain C. PENNELL, W. V. - RAINBIRD, S. W. O.B.E. RASSIM, Mrs. E. SCOTT, J. M. P + SMITH, Dr. Ralph B. - SMITHIES, Michael SOO, Dr. Hoy Mun STOKES, John - 265 c/o Nan Shan Life Ins. Co. Ltd., 15, Nan King E. Road, Section 2, Taipei, Taiwan. P.O. Box 65, Marshall, Arkansas 72650, U.S.A. c/o Federal Foreign Office, Referat 412, Bonn (Germany-West), Adenauerallee 101. c/o Ostasiatisches Seminar, Der Universetat Zurich, Muhlegasse 21, 8001 Zurich, Switzerland. c/o Hong Kong Govt. Office, 54, Pall Mall, London, S.W.1, England. c/o American Consulate, Calcutta, India. c/o H.K. Trade Development Office, Britannia House, 30, Rue Joseph 2nd, Brussels 4, Belgium. Maryknoll Centre House, 120 San Min Rd., 1st Section, Taichung City 400, Taiwan. 34, Wilton Crescent, London, S.W.1, England. Dept. of Modern Languages, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, 14850, U.S.A. Pearce Institute, Govan Cross, Glasgow, S.W.1, U.K. Can Boyet Mear Puerto Pollensa, Majorca, Spain. c/o Hong Kong Govt. Office, 54, Pall Mall, London, S.W.1, England. 101, Holland Road, Hove 2, Sussex, England. c/o The Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corp., 9, Gracechurch Street, London, E.C.3, England. School of Oriental & African Studies, Malet Street, London, W.C.1, England. Eng. Language Training Unit, University of Jadjahmada, Jogjakarta, Indonesia. 249, Jalan Pekeliling, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. c/o Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corp., Bandar Seri Begawan, State of Brunei. STRICKLAND, Mrs. P. G. Jaishan, Apartada 56, Marbella, Provincia de Malaga, Spain. STURM, Dr. F. G. + c/o Dept. of Philosophy, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131, U.S.A. UHALLEY, Dr. Stephen, Jr. 7103, Kukii Street, Honolulu, Hawaii 96821, U.S.A. WATSON, Dr. James L. - + c/o School of Oriental & African Studies, Malet Street, London, W.C.1, E7 HP, England. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1976 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q and living in a resettled village, on their field observations relating to urban development. In November we had a talk on diplomatic systems in East Asia as part of general philosophies of state by Dr. Frank W. Ikle and in December Dr. Ralph Smith, a visiting historian specialising in Vietnamese society at the School of African and Oriental Studies spoke on the Cao-Daist and Hoa Hao religious sects. Another visitor to Hong Kong—visiting professor in anthropology at The Chinese University—Professor Francis L. K. Hsu, spoke to the Society in January giving his views about Chinese motivations and values and comparing them with Western values and motivations as he sees them. In February we held our symposium: this time on Architecture and the development of Hong Kong. We were fortunate enough to obtain the kind services of Mr. Tao Ho here, a well-known local architect and designer, who gathered a team of experts to talk on problems of community and town planning, building, mass transit and the historical development of ethnic clusters in relation to building. This was very well attended and there was some lively discussion. We look forward to seeing the papers in publication: Mr. Ho is presently editing them for the Society. The last lecture of the period was given by Professor Daffyd Evans of Hong Kong University who spoke on early European residents in Hong Kong. We look forward to seeing some of these talks in print in the Journal. Foreign tours are now an established feature of our annual programme. This period included a tour of Burma guided by Mr. Michael Smithies, a former Secretary of your Society, now resident in Indonesia, who has led past tours so successfully. It was organised this end by Ms. Helga Werle of your Council. This was also a very successful venture and I understand that it has been followed by a reunion of tour members who are anxious to have more of the same. For the future: Ms. Werle and Mr. Smithies, and also Dr. Leigh Wright are offering tours abroad—to Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Indonesia, Korea, and Borneo—dates will be decided on the basis of majority response to several offered to members in a recent circular. A visit to Tai Mo Shan is also planned for this weekend (April 3), and will include the Shing Mun or Jubilee Reservoir. Talks and notes will be given on history and ethnography of the area, plant and insect life, and birds of upper Tai Mo Shan—by Dr. James Hayes. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1976 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q 5th been covered before many of the older buildings of interest were pulled down. In addition, expeditions were made to other areas to photograph buildings of particular interest which were soon to be demolished. The photographs taken so far have been sorted and catalogued largely by Mrs. J. Edmunds, for whose assistance in this work the Council is very grateful. The exhibition of photographs mounted at the last Annual General Meeting was afterwards shown at the British Council and again at the Library of the University of Hong Kong, where it attracted considerable public interest. Encouraged by this, the Council has been considering the publication of a volume of photographs selected from those taken in the course of the Survey so far, for sale to members and the public. It has been proposed that the publication should illustrate the history and character of the district both by photographs and in text. If successful, the volume might form the first of a series. Participation of members of the Society in this work of the Survey, either as photographers or cataloguers, would be very welcome, and anybody who is interested should contact the Secretary, Mr. Ian Diamond—why not tonight? Acknowledgements In closing, I would like to acknowledge with many thanks the voluntary help we have received from sources outside the Council. Mrs. Edmunds with the Photographic Survey, Michael Smithies with overseas visits, Mr. Westcott of the British Council for his continuing help with some of our office problems, Mr. Tao Ho for organizing our last symposium, our auditors, Messrs Wong, Tan & Co., and finally, Sir Lindsay Ride, who as a member of the Hong Kong Club has continued to act as our sponsor for booking accommodation for lectures, this meeting, and for the dinner to which we will soon thankfully proceed. April, 1976. MARJORIE TOPLEY ================================================================================