RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1968 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833948d NOTES ON HONG KONG LIBRARIES 65 be removed for use within the Court, in Chambers, or the Registry, but were not to be taken further: whether this applied only to barristers and solicitors, who were privileged to use the Library subject to the rules, or also to the Judiciary and Law Officers who were entitled to use it, is not clear. Mr. J. W. Norton-Kyshe, the Registrar of the Supreme Court, whose useful history of the laws of Hong Kong is the source of the information on its Library, managed to persuade the Government in 1896 that an annual grant should be made for the purchase of books. In 1897 this amounted to $500, and in the following year it was doubled,12 Certainly the history of Hong Kong libraries in the nineteenth century is by no means restricted to those which have been considered in this article, although they are probably the most important. There must, for example, have been libraries in the various schools, both Government sponsored and others, though the condition of school libraries in the Colony even today suggests that they would not have been particularly well organised fifty or more years ago. Government departments other than the Supreme Court must also have had collections of books. All these possibilities, quite apart from the existence of private libraries, both Chinese and English, need to be investigated. What has been discovered so far, however, contributes to refute the common notion of Hong Kong as a cultural desert, and to indicate that library history in Hong Kong goes back almost as far as the history of the Colony itself. NOTES 1 V. H. G. Jarrett, under the pseudonym of 'Colonial' contributed a series of articles to the South China Morning Post between 17th June, 1933 and 13th April, 1935 on "Old Hong Kong". Typescripts of these articles were rearranged alphabetically by subject and bound in four volumes (unpaginated) in the S. C. M. P. Office. By kind permission of the Managing Director, a Xerox copy of this set is available in the University of Hong Kong Library. This extract is from the article headed "Public Library." 2 Hongkong Register, vol. 25, 1852, pp. 94-5. 3 At this date (1852) prices were normally quoted in Spanish or Mexican dollars, equivalent to about 4/2d sterling. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1968 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833948d 210 LI, Shi-yi LINDSAY, T. J.* L IU, D. H. LIU, Sydney C. - LIU, Prof. Ts'un-yan LLEWELLYN, J. LO, Prof. Hsiang-lin LO, T. S.* LOBO, Mrs. R. H. LOCKING, J. R. - - LOCKS, Miss A. M. LOFT, Prof. B. + LOSEBY, Miss P. LOTHROP, Francis B.* - LUCAS, Col. E. S. S. LUM, Miss Ada* LUPTON, G. C. M. MA, Meng · MACCABE, Miss Eileen - MACGREGOR, Miss M. MACK, A. M. MACKEITH, J. S. MACKENZIE, J. + + • MACKENZIE, Miss Susan - MADING, Dr. Klaus MAGEE, M. W. P. 72, La Salle Road, 2nd floor, Kowloon. 3, Bareena Avenue, Wahroonga, N.S.W. c/o U.S. Consulate General, 26 Garden Road, H.K. 22 Tai Hang Road, 3rd fl., H.K. Dept. of Chinese, Australian National University, Canberra, A.C.T. 2600, Australia, c/o The Registry, The University, H.K. Dept. of Chinese, The University, H.K. c/o Lo and Lo, Jardine House, 7/F., Pedder St., H.K. Race View Mansions, Apt. 72, 46 Stubbs Road, H.K. c/o District Office, Yuen Long, N.T. Flat 20, 6 Mansfield Road, H.K. Dept. of Zoology, University of Hong Kong, H.K. c/o Russ & Co., Rooms 523/5 Gloucester Building, H.K. 176 Milk Street, Boston, Massachusetts, 02109, U.S.A. 94, Main Street, Stanley, H.K. 142, Boundary Street, Kowloon, c/o Colonial Secretariat, H.K. Institute of Oriental Studies, The University, H.K. King's Park House, Gascoigne Road, Kowloon. 69, Bisney Road, Pokfulum, H.K. P. O. Box 255, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 80 Robinson Road, H.K. Davie, Boag & Co., Ltd., Jardine House, H.K. Physiotherapy Dept., Queen Mary Hospital, Pokfulum, H.K. c/o German Consulate General, P.O. Box 250, H.K Operations, Cathay Pacific Airways, Kai Tak Airport, Kowloon. E Life Member Please notify the Hon. Secretary of any inaccuracy ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1968 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833948d 216 TARR, A. D. - THOMAS, L. F. THOMAS, Dr. O. L. - THOMAS, T. H. THORN, Mrs. R. + THROWER, Prof. L. B. - TILL, The Very Rev. B.* + TISDALL, B. TOLMAN, Norman H. TOOGOOD, C. W. - TOPLEY, Dr. Marjorie TORRIBLE, G. R.* TOWNER, J. A. TRISTRAM, M. P. W. TSEUNG, Dr. F. I. TURNER, Sir Michael* TYLER, Mrs. M. R. + - - P - Flat 202, Balmacara, 17 Old Peak Road, H.K. c/o Colonial Secretariat, Lower Albert Road, H.K. Flat 5, "Cliffside", King's Park Rise, Kowloon, c/o The British Council, Gloucester Building, H.K. 14D, Headland Road, Hong Kong. 6-B, Alberose, 134 Pokfulum Road, H.K. c/o Morley College, 61 Westminster Bridge Road, London S.E.1., England, 1 Garden Terrace, G/F, H.K. Cultural Office, U.S. Consulate General, 26 Garden Road, H.K. c/o Oxford University Press, 5th floor, News Building, 633 King's Road, H.K. 19, Peak Mansions, The Peak, H.K. c/o The Hong Kong Club, H.K. 57 Buxey Lodge, 37 Conduit Road, H.K. Rating & Valuation Dept., Murray House, Garden Road, H.K. China Building, 4th floor, H.K. "Whispers", Riversdale, Bourne End, Bucks, England. 402 Tregunter Mansions, Old Peak Road, H.K. UHALLEY, Dr. Stephen, Jr. Department of Oriental Studies, University VETCH, H. VETCH, Mrs. H. + VIO, Dr. E. G. VISICK, Mrs. M. WALDEN, J. C. C. + WARD, Miss J. E. A.* WARRINGTON-STRONG, Cmdr. F. WATSON, Hon. K. A. WATERS, D. D. WEBB-JOHNSON, S. A. WEI, Dr. Tat of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, U.S.A. Hong Kong Univ. Press, The University, H.K. As above, 315, H.K. & Shanghai Bank Building, H.K. Dept. of English, The University, H.K. c/o Urban Services Dept., Central Govt. Offices, (West Wing), H.K. c/o National Provincial Bank Ltd., Bideford, N. Devon, England. c/o Registry of Persons Office, Causeway Bay Magistracy, H.K. c/o Lammert Bros., Pedder Building, H.K. Technical College, Hung Hom, Kowloon. 46 King's Park Flats, Kowloon, 3. Fontana Gardens, 5th Floor, Causeway Hill, H.K. *Life Member Please notify the Hon. Secretary of any inaccuracy ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1970 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ww72j0241 223 HOLMES, Hon. D. R. HOLTH, Dr. S. HOPKINSON, Mrs. J. E. HORSTMANN, Mrs. C. HOTUNG, E. E. HOWARD, W. J.* HOWE, D. H. HOWE, Mrs. P. M. - HOWNAM-MEEK, R. S. HOWORTH, J. F. - HOYNINGEN-HUENE, Baron Ture von HSIA, Tung-Pei HUGHES, G. M. - + HUGHES, Mrs. G. M.* HUI, Miss Wai-haan HUNG, Chiu-sing HURT, Miss E. J. - HUTSON, P. E. INGLES, Miss J. M. IRETON, Mrs. P. H.* IU, Miss S.* JACKSON, R. N. JEN, Prof. Yu-wen JENNER, J. P. T JOHNSON, G. E. KANN, P. R. - - - - + ← Secretariat For Home Affairs, International Building, H.K, Tao Fong Shan Christian Institute, Shatin, N.T. 12, Mt. Nicholson Gap, H.K. 104 Ocean Terminal, Kowloon. 10 Stanley Street, H.K. P. O. Box 282. H.K. Unknown. Unknown. c/o Midland Bank Ltd., St. Mary Street, Weymouth, Dorset, England. c/o Leigh & Orange, Room 2015 Union House, H.K. 9-A Stanley Beach Road, H.K. P.O. Box No. 20027, 1 Hennessy Road Post Office, H.K. c/o American International Assurance Co., Ltd. AJA Building, 1 Stubbs Road, H.K. As above. c/o Dept. of Chemistry, University of Hong Kong, H.K. 4B Headland Road, H.K. c/o Skilts Residential School, Gorcott Hill, Nr. Redditch, Worcs., England. c/o H.K. & Shanghai Banking Corpn., P.O. Box 64, H.K. Government House Lodge, Garden Road, H.K. 10, Peak Road, A11, H.K. c/o Grantham Hospital, Aberdeen, H.K. c/o The Registry, University of Hong Kong, H.K. 2, Stafford Road, Kowloon. c/o International Bank of Commerce, Central Building, 1st floor, H.K. c/o Dept. of Anthropology & Sociology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver 8, B.C., Canada, 1, Branksome Towers, May Road, H.K. Life Member Please notify the Hon. Secretary of any inaccuracy ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1971 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g CHINESE ELITE IN HONG KONG 77 (10) Relation of land ownership to élite status can be judged by a list of the twenty highest rate-payers in 1876 and 1881, published in the Government Gazette. The list includes both Europeans and Chinese. In 1876 European ownership outranks Chinese twelve to eight; but in 1881 ownership had shifted so that there were seventeen Chinese among the twenty highest rate-payers. In the 1881 list seven of the top twenty were of compradore families, six were merchants, one contractor, and the widow of Rev. Ho Fuk Tong, ordained minister of the London Missionary Society's Chinese congregation. The terminal date for this study is the opening of Tung Wah Hospital in 1872. After this date, the names of the Directors of the Hospital published in the Development of the Tung Wah Hospital 1870-1960 are an excellent criteria for determining élite status. After 1872 there is also an ever increasing number of subscriptions, memorials, committees, delegations, etc., which serve as counter-checks to the Tung Wah Directorships. For a study of élite based on such lists, it is necessary to give identity to the names by a biographical sketch. These sketches indicate the manner by which the individual arrived at élite status. To reconstruct the biographies of these early residents of Hong Kong is not easy. Only documentary sources have been used for this reconstruction. No information has been sought from present day descendants of these individuals. I have relied upon such material as newspapers, Land Registry Office records, the Police and Lighting Rates for 1860, 1868 and 1872, the Government Gazettes and Blue Books, the published Calendar of Probates and Administrations, the Colonial Office Records in the Public Records Office, London, and the archives of several Missionary Societies. The Chinese practice of using various aliases complicates identification. In one instance, for example, an individual used at various times and in various relationships ten different aliases. The varying Romanization for Chinese names constitutes another problem for the researcher who uses western sources. The contemporary English, Portuguese, Germans and French each had a different system for Romanizing Chinese characters. For instance on page 101 there is a reference to Tso Aon's brother, Chow Yik Cheong. The Chinese character ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1971 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g 112 CARL T. SMITH He only appears once on our élite lists. In 1872 he was a member of the General Committee of Tung Wah Hospital. He was a member of the Masonic Order in Hong Kong. His first four children, a son and three daughters, were baptized at St. John's Cathedral, but his venture into the opium trade marked his departure from the Christian community. He later took on two concubines and was survived by six sons. His eldest son George Chan Su Kee was the first Chinese to be married in a civil ceremony at the Registry Office in Hong Kong. In this group of Chinese who came under the influence of the missionaries, with the exception of Chan Tai Kwong, we find certain repeated patterns. They received an English language education at mission schools and their sons were usually educated abroad. Almost without exception they served a time as interpreters in the Hong Kong Government. Most of them were interested in journalism. The first four Chinese appointed to the Legislative Council were from this group, their service covering the years 1882 to 1914. They were either blood relations or intermarried, until their family structure forms a complex of inter-relationships. Several of them served the Chinese nation in high posts of responsibility. They were the most significant of the several groups that provided a Chinese élite in Hong Kong before the turn of the century. CONCLUSION With the establishment of Tung Wah Hospital, the Hong Kong Chinese had a structure with which they could handle the problems that were peculiar to the Chinese community. They had also a representative élite leadership through whom they could make representation to government and to whom government, in turn, could turn for advice on problems affecting its relationship with the Chinese community. Although criticism arose concerning the operation of the Hospital Committee, charging it with exercising too much power and in effect forming an unofficial Chinese Legislative Council alongside the British administration, in general both parties - the Chinese community and the Government found the Hospital Committee representative of responsible leadership and hence a helpful bridge between the two groups. With the appointment of a Chinese member to the Legislative Council in 1880, Chinese leadership was in- ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1971 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g 240 SALMON, Mrs. P. A. - SAUNDERS, J. A. H. SCHNEIDER, H. SCHWARZ, Miss M. D.* SCOTT, J. M. SELLERS, David S. SELLETT, G.* SERSALE, Miss S. M. SHANNON, Capt. J. M. - SHEPHARD, A. J. SHING, David SHOEMAKER, J. F. SHU, Dr. H. T. SIEGEL, H. W. + SINFIELD, G. H. C.* SJOHOLM, Gunnar A. - P SKELSON, Mrs. R. E. SLEVIN, B. F. · SMITH, L.* SMYTH, Miss L. SO, Dr. Chak-lam - SOO, Dr. Hoy-Mun SPERRY, H. M.* SPOONER, M. G. - T ■ · + 40 Plantation Road, The Peak, H.K. c/o H.K. & Shanghai Banking Corpn., P.O. Box 64, H.K. c/o Jebsen & Co., P.O. Box 97, H.K. c/o Mrs. R. L. Smyth, 1635 Green Street, San Francisco, California, U.S.A. c/o H.K. & Shanghai Banking Corpn., P.O. Box 64, H.K. c/o H.K. Govt. Office, 54 Pall Mall, London, S.W.1. England. "Pinecrest", N.K.I.L. 3543, Tai Po Road, Kowloon 11-A, Cameron House, 40 Magazine Gap Road, H.K. B-4, Garden Mansions, Repulse Bay, H.K. c/o Colonial Secretariat, H.K. Florida Mansion, Block C, 11th Floor, Paterson Street, H.K. 73 Kadoorie Avenue, Kowloon 70 Mt. Davis Road, Ground floor, H.K. c/o Bayer China Co., Ltd., Room 1916 Union House, H.K. Unknown. Tao Fong Shan Christian Institute, Shatin, N.T. A3 Magazine Heights, 17 Magazine Gap Road, H.K. c/o Police Headquarters, Arsenal Street, H.K. Flat 10-B, Dragon View, 39-41 MacDonnell Road, H.K. Unknown c/o Dept. of Geography & Geology, University of Hong Kong, H.K. 249, Jalan Pekeliling, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Allied Bank International, St. George's Building, 10th Floor, H.K. c/o The Registry, University of Hong Kong, H.K. * Life Member Please notify the Hon. Secretary of any inaccuracy ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1983 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v 14 interfered, and had the fence removed, to the detriment, we think, of the villagers, who had they hereafter been ousted from their homesteads, would have been glad, as the amount of compensation uniformly adjudged to the aborigines, has far exceeded their expectation". (Friend of China, 25 May 1843) The bay of Tung Lo Wan where the village of So Kon Po was located became the centre for the salt trade. Early Government-financed improvements in the area included a road from Wong Nei Chung to So Kon Po built in 1845 at a cost of $2,000, and a sea wall under three contractors employing some six thousand men (C.O.129-11 No.73). In 1844 an order was issued forbidding the cultivation of rice in the Wong Nei Chung and So Kon Po valleys. It was thought the miasmic vapours arising from the paddy fields made the area unhealthy. The cultivated land of the Wong Nei Chung valley was seventy-five acres and of So Kon Po thirty-seven acres. Following this prohibition of rice growing, the land was purchased by the Government from its Chinese owners. The area was drained, and health improved. The Governor, in a report submitted to the Colonial Office dated 10 March 1845, said he was contemplating letting the So Kon Po valley to Chinese for market gardening (C.O.129-11, No.28). An advertisement in the Hong Kong Register dated 16 July, 1846 indicates that the introduction of the new crops to the valley took place very shortly afterwards: "Farm to let the Hinton Farm, district of Su-kun-pu, comprising about 30 acres, six and upwards of which are of the best arable land. Possession can be given immediately on removal of present Crops, consisting principally of Flax and Vegetables. Apply to the Proprietor at the Land Office, Mr. Tarrant." 52 At the time William Tarrant was clerk in the Land Registry Office. After purchase from the Chinese, the valley was laid out into five Farm Lots. These were sold at a Land Sale on 1 July 1846 on twenty-one year leases. The purchasers were George Duddell, ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1986 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063 17 JOHN JOSEPH FRANCIS, CITIZEN OF HONG KONG, A BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE WALTER GREENWOOD V.H.G. Jarret writing about Francis in the South China Morning Post in the 1930s commented "It seems strange that so well known a man should not be commemorated in any way”. When one considers the number of streets and roads in Hong Kong named after less prominent Government officials and businessmen the force of that comment will, it is hoped, be appreciated by the end of this essay. Francis was born in Dublin in 1839, the eldest son of William Francis Aylward, an Inspector of Irish National Schools, and Mr. Walter Greenwood J.P., M.A. (Cantab.), Barrister of Gray's Inn and the North Eastern Circuit, a Permanent Magistrate in Hong Kong AUTHOR'S ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: This essay was hurriedly researched and written in snatched hours and does not claim to be comprehensive, much less to do justice to Francis. I hope it may lead to interest in his life and career and I should be grateful if anyone who finds new information about him would send it to me at 26, Great Bounds Drive, Southborough, Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN4OTR. It is based mainly on skimming through newspapers and dipping into the standard histories of Hong Kong. I have also received generous help from many quarters. First I should like to acknowledge my gratitude to the staff of the Hong Kong Public Records Office for their ever friendly and willing help; my thanks go also to the staff of the Supreme Court Registry and University Library, the Secretaries of the Bar Association, the Law Society, the Jockey Club and the Volunteers, Mrs. Lisa Chee, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Po Leung Kuk, Fathers Naylor, Pagani and Pittavino (for searching church records), Mr. Michael Clancy (for information about “Stonyhurst”), Mr. Carl Smith (for information about Francis' marriages) and Mr. Colin West (for arranging the cleaning of Francis' tombstone) in Hong Kong; the Parish Priest of All Saints Church, Borella, Colombo; Father Turner of Stonyhurst College; the staff of the Public Records Office, Genealogical Office and Public Registry in Dublin; Mr. Julian Walton of Dublin and Waterford (for supplying me with material about the Aylward family which he also presented to Dr. Ken Smith of South Africa for use in his biography of Alfred Aylward); the Editor of the Irish Ancestor, the staff of the Public Record Office, Royal Artillery Institution, University and Crown Agents in London; Mrs. Theresa Thom, Librarian of Gray's Inn; Mr. Leo D'Almada Q.C. in Portugal; Dr. Walter Mautsch in Germany; Mr. Nigel Osner in London; Pamela and Eric Russ in Bournemouth; my wife (for her patience whilst I practised my drafts on her); and Mrs. Mary Whitticase for her great kindness in typing my manuscript. Copyright Walter Greenwood 1986. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1986 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063 26 WALTER GREENWOOD specially selected to reorganise and run the Registry (there had been some unhappy experiences in the past), "The worst of it," he wrote, "will be that this appointment of Mr. Ackroyd will constitute a precedent. He will be constantly vibrating between the Bench and the Registrar's Office. Succeeding Registrars will deem themselves entitled to the same chances, and instead of devoting themselves wholly to their work will be constantly on the look-out for acting appointment”. He ended by saying that he had no personal interest in the matter and would decline either office if offered it, and had not the slightest ill-will towards Ackroyd. The Government went ahead and appointed Ackroyd who does not appear to have taken any offence. It may be convenient at this point, before turning to his life outside the law, to deal with other aspects of his character and situation. If his public statements and actions are a true guide he was a man of faith: faithful to his church and religion, to his native country and fellow countrymen and to his monarch. He was one of the leading Roman Catholic laymen in Hong Kong and regularly attended church services and functions. In 1878 he wrote to the press in defence of Bishop Raimondi who had been attacked in an editorial. The same year, speaking on a public occasion, he said that Roman Catholics did not expect favours but expected not to meet with prejudice and ignorance. He went on "If there has been any difficulty, and there sometimes have been difficulties attending Catholics in Hong Kong, it has arisen, I will not say from any want of goodwill, but a certain amount, I do not like to say of prejudice, but of pre-judgment, a certain feeling of hostility to Catholics almost inevitable in English non-Catholics. At the same time I have spoken to missionaries and they all join in saying that nowhere, under no government, are they so free, are they so well treated, are they so perfectly certain that they will not be interfered with in the legitimate exercise of their office than under Her Majesty's Government”. In 1894 after the death of Bishop Raimondi he described him as a dear friend and said "for the past twenty-five years he has been to me an educator in the path of duty". In 1891 when his re-marriage was announced (he married a German lady in Colombo in December 1890) he was described as Knight of St. Gregory the Great, but I have not been able to trace his appointment. In 1880 speaking at a St. Patrick's Day Soiree he ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 121 CHEUNG SHAN KWU TSZ (長山古寺), AN OLD BUDDHIST NUNNERY IN THE NEW TERRITORIES, AND ITS PLACE IN LOCAL SOCIETY The Plan of the Nunnery P. H. HASE* Hong Kong has dozens of Buddhist monasteries and nunneries, mostly located in the New Territories. Almost all are recent foundations. The majority were founded by monks or nuns fleeing from one of the three major disturbances to Buddhist life in China in the last 80 years - the 1911 Revolution, and the chaos of the Warlord years which succeeded it; the Anti-Superstition Campaign mounted by the Kuomintang from the mid 1920s; and the Communist Revolution of 1949-1952. These monasteries and nunneries mostly share a single common plan, which distinguishes a Buddhist place of worship from the ordinary temple of the traditional village religion. The ordinary temple consists of a windowless rectangular hall, with the altar to the God against one of the short walls, and entered through the opposite short wall. The hall usually has a Tin Tseng (天井), or lightwell, in the centre for the escape of incense smoke. Often two subordinate similar halls are placed one on either side of the main hall, interconnecting by arches. Most Buddhist institutions are built to a different plan. They are centred on a Buddha Hall (A, 大殿), which is also a rectangle, but one entered through the centre of one of the long walls, and the altar is not against the opposite long wall, but free-standing a little in front of it. These Buddha Halls usually have windows, and do not have Tin Tseng. In large monasteries or nunneries, the Buddha Hall is a free-standing structure surrounded by a portico, placed in the centre of an enclosed courtyard-garden on a raised podium, with the other buildings forming ranges along the edges of the courtyard. The whole complex is enclosed: the monastery or nunnery, unlike the ordinary temple, is * The author would like to thank those Ta Kwu Ling elders who gave him the information on which much of this article is based, and also the staff of the District Office, North, who assisted in setting up the interviews. He would also like to thank the staff of the District Land Registry, North, for their unfailing courtesy and assistance. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1991 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/k356gt84j 200 effect, in the presence of the ancestors. To the right of the bride knelt a Taoist priest wearing the traditional red robe edged with black and yellow, and a black hat. From time to time the bride would bow her head while the priest chanted and the fortunate woman also burned offerings. Occasionally, while the offerings were burning, the priest banged cymbals and two pieces of wood together The whole ceremony lasted about half an hour, after which the bride's mother burned more paper gold and silver offerings outside the house. The bridgroom would later perform these rites in his own home, before the couple married in a registry office on Hong Kong Island where they both worked. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1998 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794 397 as, post 1945. One would expect, bearing in mind that many of Hong Kong's records were destroyed during the Japanese occupation (1941-1945), that these last two would be the easiest of the seven to trace. The help of the staff of the Urban Services Department was again sought. They searched the registers of the Jewish and Muslim Cemeteries, and further searches were again made in the Hong Kong Cemetery and the Catholic Cemetery. But still we were unable to locate the two missing graves. A search was also made by Mr Derek Cheng, cemetery attendant at the Stanley Cemetery, but without success. In addition a search was made in the Government Public Records Office, at Kwun Tong, for the birth certificates of Knox and Moss. Again we were unsuccessful. A discussion was also held with an Immigration Department Officer in the Government Births and Deaths Registry. He informed me that unless more information could be obtained, including places of death (for example a hospital), it was extremely unlikely that the death certificates of the two could be traced. Search fees of HK$140.00 for the first and HK$680.00 for a second more general search would be charged for each person. This information has been passed back through BACSA to the relatives. The seven dead persons were all British and it is therefore unlikely that they would have been buried in the delightful little Chiu Yuen (meaning bright and faraway) Eurasian Cemetery, on Hong Kong Island, or in one of the many Chinese cemeteries. Although cremation was rare until more recently (in 1958/59 only 1.65 per cent of corpses in Hong Kong were cremated1), it is just possible these two dead persons' bodies were disposed of in this way. Their ashes could have been scattered (very few are in Hong Kong) or placed in an urn, in a niche, in a columbarium. It is even more unlikely that the bones of these persons, being Europeans, would be placed in an ossuary. Again, it is unlikely that either of the two would have been buried on the China Mainland (although Moss, having died 'post 1945, could have been) after the People's Republic Government came to power in 1949. It should be mentioned that all four graves that we found were located in pleasant surroundings close to, or under trees. Again the two ================================================================================