RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1965
https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s752cj653
116

NOTES AND QUERIES

Additional Note on Article “JOURNAL OF OCCURRENCES AT CANTON IN 1839 BY WILLIAM HUNTER”

Readers of Volume 4 of the Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society will be grateful to the Editorial Committee for deciding to print the full text of William C. Hunter's manuscript journal preserved in the Boston Athenaeum. It is a happy coincidence that his journal should have been made available in print to scholars of modern Chinese history at the very time when Hunter's manuscript has been drawn on extensively in a recently published account of the causes and events which led to the Opium War. The late Dr. Hsin-pao Chang, in his scholarly book Commissioner Lin and the Opium War (Harvard University Press, 1964), relates in some detail the story of the detention of the foreign merchants in their factories from 24th March until 5th May by orders of Imperial Commissioner Lin Tse-hsü (pp. 151-159). In describing this episode Dr. Chang has used various sources but has taken most of his details from Hunter's manuscript journal.

After reading Dr. Chang's book I have discovered answers to a few problems which puzzled me while writing some of the footnotes to Hunter's journal as published in Volume 4 of this journal. May I, therefore, make a few additions and corrections to the text. Firstly, the sketch map of the Canton estuary on page 59 of Commissioner Lin and the Opium War marks most of the places mentioned by Hunter which were not shown on the sketch map on page 27 of Volume 4 of this journal, or left unidentified in the notes to the text. Thus the positions of Lankeet, Chuenpee, Shakok and Chunhow are clearly shown on the map in Dr. Chang's book. Hunter's use of the name Chinn-up under entry for 13th April is still inexplicable but in fact the opium was being unloaded at that date at Sha-chiao ('Sandy Head') which presumably was the Shakok of Western accounts, lying across the estuary from Lankeet. Secondly, some minor corrections. On p. 16, line 1, the word 'songs' should read 'gongs'; on p. 14, lines 9-10, it would be more accurate to say
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RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984
https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572
164

R.A. BOWLER, D.S.C. YANG AND A.J.E. SMITH

to cover the period 1952 to 1977, but from about 1957 those beds closest to the Chinese coast were not re-leased. Since 1977 no leases have been granted and the present claim to "ownership" between China-based farmers and Hong Kong-based farmers divides the bay almost centrally. However, this simplistic division belies the close ties that still exist between oyster farmers.

Figure 1 Location Plan

Nor Ni 2 Am

Scal

Pearl

Estury

Shappe

Fuyurg Tungtian

Xiaochan

PEARL ESTUARY

Deep Bay.

Nei Ling Ting!

People's Republic China (Guangdong Province)

South China Sea

+

Kildmavat

A Duchan

SHENZHEN CITY

Baoan County

Xixiang

Manion

Houhai

Shakou

DEEP BAY

DRUN UDISWM?

Black Polo

Special Economic Zone

Shehe

Cucall

I'm Shul Wai

Law Fau Shan

New Territories

Lantau Island

Legend

PRC Oyster beds

HONG KONG Oyster beds
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