RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1974 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077 258 LIST OF MEMBERS ORDINARY MEMBERS: LANG, F. G... LANGLEY, John A. LAYTON, F. A. L. LECLERCQ, J. M. LEE, Miss Ngah-Ping + LEE, Sung-Tai LERNER, Bernard - + LESLIE, Mrs. Elizabeth LETCHER, Dr. Roy M. LEVIN, David A. LEWIS, Mrs. Helen LI, Edwin Lao LI, Shi-yi LIM, Miss Laye Tin + + + - 43, Kadoorie Avenue, Kowloon. c/o Toronto Dominion Bank, Rooms 917-920, Hutchison House, 10, Harcourt Road, H.K. c/o The Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corp., Queen's Road, C., H.K. G.P.O. Box 13, H.K. Extra-Mural Studies Dept., University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, H.K. 36, Village Road, 3D, The Fine Mansion, Happy Valley, H.K. 601, Regent House, H.K. B-6, Royden Court, 129, Repulse Bay Rd., H.K. Department of Chemistry, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, H.K. Department of Sociology, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, H.K. 14, Conduit Road, Emerald Court 5-B, H.K. Consulate General of Costa Rice, 3, Tin Hau Temple Road, H.K. 72, La Salle Road, 2nd floor, H.K. The Grantham Hospital, Wong Chuk Hung Road, Aberdeen, H.K. LINTHWAITE, Mr. & Mrs, J. 2, The Albany, H.K. LIU, Miss Alison LIU, Sydney C. - LLEWELLYN, John LLOYD, Mrs. Aileen $. LO, Hsiang-lin LOBO, Mrs. R. H. LOCKING, J. R. LOFTS, Prof. B. - LUCAS, Col. E. S. $. - LUNDEEN, Mr. & Mrs. R. W.. LUTZ, Hans F.. MA, Prof. Meng, M.B.E. + + + + 34. Lugard Road, H.K. Apt. B-2, Swiss Towers, 113, Tai Hang Rd., H.K. Dept. of Geography and Geology, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, H.K. Flat 8A, Hamilton Court, 8, Po Shan Road, H.K. c/o Dept. of Chinese, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, H.K. Race View Mansions, Apt. 72, 46, Stubbs Road, H.K. c/o The Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club, Sports Road, Happy Valley, H.K. Dept. of Zoology, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, H.K. 94, Main Street, Stanley, H.K. 1101, Tavistock, 10, Tregunter Path, H.K. Tai Yuen Lau, Flat A, 3/F., Tai Pak St., Tsuen Wan, N.T. Dept. of Oriental Studies, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, H.K. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1990 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299 112 to walk along the paths which follow the mountain slope, when it began to rain heavily. Spying close-by a house, with an attractive green-tiled roof, we approached proposing to ask permission to 'phone for a taxi. I rang the bell and put my request to the Chinese boy who opened the door. He showed me in, leaving the door ajar, so that my wife, who remained outside, should not feel shut out; and led me to the 'phone in the hall. He was about to dial for me, when a voice in the distance asked, curtly as I thought, who I wanted. We were by then pretty well soaked and I suppose we did look rather like tramps. It was the lady of the mansion. I explained our predicament. She motioned to the instrument, then moved to the far end of the room, without inviting in my wife, whom she saw waiting outside. The boy got busy on the 'phone and eventually connected me, when the voice was heard instructing him to "close that door". He was most embarrassed and apologetically shut it on my wife. The taxi firm having promised to send for us, I rejoined her outside in the rain, where we remained for ten minutes until the car arrived. I would not have the reader think that such behaviour was typical of British manners in Hongkong. It was not, but it was characteristic of a small clique, which is found in most British colonies, courting a reflected lustre on the fringe of the official hierarchy. I think possibly its geography explains to some extent the notorious snobbery of Hongkong. Living, say, in Victoria, an invitation to dinner on the Peak was of doubtful attraction. It meant starting off in a taxi to the higher level, where there would only too probably be a heavy mist, and perhaps rain as well. You would have to leave your taxi to walk up several hundred steps to the house, built on the steep hillside, arriving with wet feet and, if wearing a raincoat, probably also drenched in sweat. On another occasion the invitation might be to dine in Kowloon. That would involve going down to the jetty, crossing the harbour in the ferry, picking up a taxi on the other side, and so reaching your host's house without too much difficulty; but, unless you left in time to catch the last return ferry at midnight dinner in the Far East ― you would have to seldom starts before nine, or half past nine search for a walla-walla boat, a small type of taxi motor-launch; there ! ! Page 135 Page 136 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2002 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278 453 YET MORE THOUGHTS ON HAN SUYIN'S A MANY SPLENDOURED THING: CONDUIT ROAD AND ITS ENVIRONS DAN WATERS In Volume 40, (2000), of the HKBRAS Journal, there were two fine articles. One was entitled Tea, Ivory and Ebony; Tracing Colonial Threads in the Inseparable Life and Literature of Han Suyin, and the second was Some Thoughts on Han Suyin's A Many Splendoured Thing. These were contributed by Teresa Kowalska and Peter Halliday respectively. I will continue from there and include also a little more history about the interesting district around Conduit Road. As we read in the above articles, Love is a Many Splendored Thing, starring Jennifer Jones and William Holden, was partly shot at 41 Conduit Road in the 1950s. This film was based on Han Suyin's autobiography, A Many Splendoured Thing, where Han's lover, a British correspondent, was killed in the Korean War. In the film, in addition to the slight change of title, the hero miraculously became an American. The Chinese-style pavilion out at the back, over towards Po Shan Road, which was used in the film, still stands today. A bit further away is a watercourse, which seldom dries up even during a drought. Water was piped from there for flushing toilets, at the old mansion at No. 41, right up until it was demolished in the 1960s. There was water rationing in those days. Conduit Road itself really came into being as a result of Hong Kong's first water supply scheme, which resulted from the construction of Pok Fu Lam Reservoir. Water began to flow in 1864. Before then, the entire Island depended on wells and streams. Later, a water main was laid around the southwest slopes of Mid-Levels and a road was constructed at the turn of the century, which became known as Conduit Road. The well-to-do in the Colony liked the location and some built their dwellings there. A Chinese gentleman, Mr. Mok Kon Sang, in 1911 built a palatial residence at 41 Conduit Road where Realty Gardens stands today. Mr. Mok was a comprador for Butterfield and Swire (in 1974 the name was changed to plain Swire). In keeping with rich Chinese of his times, he ================================================================================