RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1990 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299 310 Dr Elizabeth Sinn explained at intervals during the three-day trip something of the history of Amoy. Together with Ningpo, efforts were made by the British to establish the two towns as centres of trade before Canton secured commercial dominance in 1757. The Canton monopoly was broken in 1842, with the Treaty of Nanking, by the opening of not only Amoy and Ningpo but also the Treaty Ports of Foochow and Shanghai. From and to these ports, among other commodities, were shipped tea, silk, and opium. But before then, in the late 17th century, Amoy had been the lair of freebooting, swashbuckling Koxinga (Zheng Chenggong), who not only drove the Dutch from Taiwan to make it an anti-Manchu base but also attempted to wrest power from the Qing Dynasty. Today, the People's Republic is trying to proclaim that Koxinga, who had a Japanese mother, was no common pirate but a national hero. Amoy also played a big part in the infamous, so-called in Chinese, 'pig business'. The first Chinese contract coolies left Canton in 1845, but they were soon being shipped from other ports in southern China. Recruiters frequently shanghaied labourers who departed for various countries, including Hawaii, Trinidad, British Guiana, Jamaica, and British Borneo. The journey to Peru or Cuba took about 130 days. Conditions aboard, because of overcrowding, were unimaginable. With a lack of food, unsanitary conditions, and harsh treatment, and 500 men crowded into a hull with barely room to lie down, riots and murders sometimes occurred. Over one-quarter of the labourers are said to have died aboard in their 'pens'. Many others, however, emigrated from Fujian under somewhat better conditions, and today most families in Xiamen have relatives living overseas. But the Province's most famous son has to be Tan Kah Kee (1874-1961), well known for his philanthropy, which is evident in several parts of town, including Xiamen University. This was completed in 1919 on its 100-hectare campus. Tan (pronounced Chan in Cantonese) was born just north of Xiamen to a father who had emigrated to Singapore and was engaged in the rice, pineapple, and rubber business. At an early age, Tan Junior also transferred to the British Colony, as it was then, where he later had four wives and fathered 17 children. Although he spoke neither Mandarin nor English, for business convenience, he became a British subject in ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1991 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/k356gt84j Liang Zhe fang hu (ling qin ci mu) lu (REHE)* Zhejiang kao Ku jing jing she wen ji 詁經精社文集 (Wang fu zhai) zhung ding kuan shi (E) H** Xue shi zhong ding kuan shi 薛氏鐘鼎款識 Jiao shan ding-kao 焦山定陶鼎考 Huang Qing bei ban lu Hai tang zhi 海塘志 Ji gu zhai zhung ding yi qi kuan shi **** 海連考 Hai yun kao I Liang Zhe jin shi zhi 兩浙金石志 Shi san jing zhu shu fu jiao kan ji +¶EAH Yang zhou Ruan shi jia miao bei 揚州阮氏家廟碑 Yen jing shi wen ji 擘經室文集 Sui Wen xuan lou ming Ying zhou shu ji 瀛舟書記 Qu jiang ting ji 曲江亭記 ** Si ku wei shou shu mu ti yao 四庫未收書目提要 Tian yi ge shu mu 大一閣書目 Ling yin shi shu zang mu Chou ren zhuan AM Shi san jing jing fu +* ****! Yi li shang fu da gong zhang zhuan zhu chuan wu Kao x 功章傳注舛考 Han Yen xi xi yue Hua shan bei kao ✶✶U** Ru lin zhuan kao ####N Guo shi wen yuan zhuan 國史文苑傳 Jiao shan shu cang shu mu 焦山書藏書目 (Song ben) shi san jing zhu shu (**)+*** Jiang su shi zheng # Jiang xi gai jian gong yuan hao she bei ji 江西改建貢院號舍碑記 Guangdong tong zhi 廣東通志 Gai jian Guangdong xiang shi wei she zhuo bei ji ***** 碑記 Shi shu gu shun 詩書古訓 Yen jing shi ji 擘經室集 Chong xiu Ruan shi zu-pu CEE** Huang Qing jing jie 皇清經解 Xue hai tang zhi 學海堂集 Yen jing shi shi lu 擘經室詩錄 Shi hua ji 石畫記 61 ================================================================================