RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1966
https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/bz60k0811
146

BOOK REVIEWS

unorganized group of individuals living mostly in the Manila area.

But, fifty years later the Philippine Chinese were an organized community with members in every part of the Philippines. The author concludes that the period 1850-1898 may be regarded as not only a critical era in terms of the survival and future of the Philippine Chinese, but as a necessary period of preparation for both closer bonds with China and the organization of the sophisticated Chinese Chambers of Commerce that were to follow.

Of special interest is the discussion of Philippine foreign trade, especially regarding trade between Hong Kong and the Philippines during the nineteenth century. Due to the dearth of statistics and materials available concerning this trade with Hong Kong, the author was unable to measure its extent during the period covered by his book. This is an interesting subject in which students and scholars might conduct further research.

Reading Professor Wickberg's long-awaited book was a great pleasure. I would second Professor William Skinner's appraisal that the book does break new ground and that in "terms of solid historical scholarship, it is superior to anything in the literature on the overseas Chinese of any country.”

Foo TAK-SUN

AN ANECDOTAL HISTORY OF OLD TIMES IN SINGAPORE, 1819-1867. Charles Burton Buckley. Kuala Lumpur: University of Malaya Press, 1965. Two volumes in one; pp. xi + 790 + xxii; 19 illustrations. M$25.

This photographic reprint of Buckley's two volumes in one makes available once again an interesting and unusual sourcebook for the history of Singapore, first published in 1902 but long out of print. Essentially a scrapbook based upon newspaper articles, private papers and personal reminiscences, it contains a mine of miscellaneous information on Singapore affairs and personalities between 1819 and 1867. Outstanding events and issues of each year are recorded and discussed, ranging from the administration of Raffles, the growth of trade and shipping and the rise of business houses, to Chinese riots, piracy, man-eating tigers and amateur theatricals. The careers and activities of prominent European and Asian personalities — such as John Crawfurd,
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RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1976
https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q
A REPORT ON SOCIAL RESEARCH IN THE NEW TERRITORIES OF HONG KONG, 1963

MAURICE FREEDMAN

Introduction

This report by the late Maurice Freedman, Professor of Social Anthropology at Oxford University and Fellow of All Souls at the time of his death in 1975, has hitherto been available only in mimeographed form. It was written for the New Territories Administration, Hong Kong Government, which gave assistance during his field study visit in 1963, as recorded in the opening paragraphs. The report is reproduced in full, with the permission of Dr. Judith Freedman and of the Hong Kong Government.

Beyond making a few trifling corrections necessitated by the fact that Professor Freedman wrote the report away from his sources of reference (para. 2), I have abstained from amending the text or adding notes. Were I to do either, the report would lose some of that distinction that he gave to any study of place, time and context.

For those members who are interested in Professor Freedman's later work, some of the contents of this report were incorporated in his Chinese Lineage and Society: Fukien and Kwangtung (London and New York, 1966) and part into other work. A bibliography of his writings is appended to Professor G. William Skinner's obituary notice which appeared in the American Anthropologist, 78, No. 4, December 1976: 871-885. A useful collection of his essays will appear soon, edited by Professor Skinner.--Ed.

The Report

1. On 8 February 1963 I began a study tour of the New Territories. I planned to spend some three months making a general appraisal of social conditions and assessing the possibilities of detailed social research. This period was to be followed by a further three months during which I would undertake some intensive study in one place. My visit to Hong Kong was financed partly by the London-Cornell Project for research into Chinese and South-East Asian societies (a body which came into existence in August 1962 and which receives its funds from the Carnegie Corporation
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