RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1962 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9s166f47f EDITORIAL The first volume of the Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society published in 1961 contained a short account of the history of the original Hong Kong Branch of the R.A.S. which existed from 1847 until 1859. During this early period the original Society published six volumes of its Transactions. It may be of interest to examine the contents of these volumes, and to compare them with what has already been achieved in the two volumes of the present Society's Journal published so far. The first volume published by the original branch was entitled Transactions of the China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1847. It was printed at the office of the China Mail at Hong Kong in 1848, and contained 14 pages of preliminary material and 78 pages of text. The last volume to be printed bore the title Transactions of the China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society Part VI, 1859, and was printed at the office of the China Mail in the same year. It contained 8 pages of introduction and 164 pages of text. Surveying the articles printed in these six volumes one's main impression is that the subject matter was predominantly connected with China, and that the contributors were mainly missionaries or members of the British Consular service. For instance one of the leading contributors was Dr. John Bowring, who was Governor of Hong Kong from 1854 until 1859. Among others were T. T. Meadows, who was interpreter to the British Consulate at Canton at this time and wrote perceptively about China; the Rev. Carl Gutzlaff, principal Chinese Secretary to the Hong Kong Government; W. H. Medhurst, Jr.; Harry Parkes; Dr. D. J. Macgowan; the Rev. Joseph Edkins; the Rev. Samuel Beal and Alexander Wylie, printer to the London Missionary Society at Shanghai. To some extent this reflects the difficulties facing the Society at this period. It was forced to rely for its lectures and articles on a small number of scholarly people resident in Hong Kong and the five original Treaty Ports. The North China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society which 1 Bowring was a man of scholarly interests and had received an honorary doctorate from Gröningen University for services to European literature. He was knighted in 1854. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1962 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9s166f47f 86 J. W. HAYES Despite the presence of troops, military posts and police of two types in the Territory, besides the assistance of the local kuk, the magistrate's power to prevent crime appears to have been limited. Piracy, in particular, was rampant at different times, and ranged from the anti-dynastic activities of Koxinga in the mid-seventeenth century on behalf of his former masters the Great Ming, (which occasioned the removal from the coast) through the widespread depredations of large pirate bands at the beginning of the nineteenth, to the milder but still disconcerting activities of the period under review. It is necessary to emphasise the prevailing unrest, since until quite recently the only striking difference between the New Territory in 1898 and the territory we know to-day was the imposition of the pax britannica. Until the British Government got into the saddle and established its police stations and patrolling launches, the people were subject to piracy, robbery and other forms of violence as from time immemorial. The Governor mentioned specifically in a despatch to the Secretary of State in April 1899 that “the (Tai Po) district is well known in Canton (i.e. to the Viceroy) to be turbulent, that to the N.E. of Mirs Bay being noted for piracy, and so ill-disposed that I am informed no Customs Official dares to land there except with the support of a revenue cruiser”.30 He probably had this from Lockhart, his main source of reliable information at this time. Of course, the local population were sometimes not averse to such efforts themselves, and as a British Consul wrote at the time "The old free-booting spirit still survives among many who are now apparently peaceful traders and fishermen [of which] we occasionally get startling proofs in some unexpected daring act of piracy on the high seas or along the coast".31 Smuggling was also common, whether of salt or opium.** Looking outside the district to the province and its capital city Canton, the political scene, as revealed by the Trade Reports to the Foreign Office of consuls in the several British treaty ports of Canton, Amoy, Samshui and Pakhoi was the reverse of satisfactory. Though written by a succession of men of obviously varying temperament and outlook they reveal a sad state of affairs. Everywhere there were disturbances which the civil authorities were slow, or incapable to correct, and clear signs that the dynasty was held to have exhausted its mandate from ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1962 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9s166f47f 116 COLINA LUPTON The purpose of the opening account of the establishment of the British foothold in China and the development of Chinese attitudes to the whole outside world in the first thirty years of this century is really to explain the Chinese outlook today rather than to offer a new analysis of events. So much in the Chinese mentality is related to the humiliations suffered at the hands of arrogant and greedy foreigners; on a people who had always thought of themselves as the most civilised and intelligent in the world these made a profound impression. What emerges most clearly here is the way commercial interests dominated British policy in and towards China until as recently as Britain's involvement in the Japanese war. The legend (and Mr. Luard hints that he thinks, even today, that it is a legend) of a market of four hundred million eager buyers for British goods continually obliterated other considerations. Britain came to China for trade and the measures she took while there were designed largely to protect her commerce. Not until the 1930s did any feeling of sympathy for China emerge in Britain; in 1935 for instance, she made some effort to assist the Chinese economy, in particular to stabilise the currency, offering financial aid and advice and participation in joint ventures. But any goodwill which might have been engendered by this move was dissipated by the way British firms appeared interested only in whether and how they could carry on their businesses in Japanese-conquered parts of China, being otherwise indifferent to the inroads made on Chinese territory. Not until Britain and China were fighting side by side did the British government finally give up the so-called "treaty rights" which had been anachronistic for about thirty years—and this, the author points out with justice, was a moment when commercial interests were in abeyance. Since the end of the second world war and the establishment of the Communist government in China the world has become a much smaller place, and Britain has declined to the status of a second-class power. Mr. Luard's book has one weakness in that as he chiefly discusses British policy it sometimes seems rather narrow: Britain is not now so important that her interests can be considered in isolation from those of the rest of the world. To ponder how she can best promote her own influence rather than to discuss it in the context of world affairs and world survival seems shortsighted. This slightly distorted emphasis— ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1963 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/4m90m091v 107 EUROPEAN NAVIGATION ON THE YANGTSE A. D. BLUE * The Yangtse is the greatest river in China, and has been of much greater importance in the history of the world than the Amazon and the Mississippi, which are superior in length and volume. In this respect it ranks with the Nile and the Euphrates, but unlike them it has always had a much greater population living along its banks. The Chinese know the Yangtse as the Long, or Great, River. Marco Polo may not have been the first European to see the Yangtse, but he was certainly the first to appreciate its importance, and to bring it to the notice of the Western world. Of the Yangtse in general Marco Polo said "the multitude of vessels that invest this great river is so great that no one who should read or hear would believe it. The quantity of merchandise carried up and down is past all belief. In fact it is so big, that it seems to be a sea rather than a river". There is no doubt but at that time, the second half of the 13th century, the Yangtse carried a greater volume of traffic than any other river in the world. Marco Polo was correct in thinking that no one would believe his reports on the Yangtse, or on China, and it was left to later generations to appreciate the accuracy of his observations. It was the missions to China of Lord Macartney and Lord Amherst in 1793 and 1816 respectively, that made Europeans realise the importance of the Yangtse. Then in 1842, during the First China War, a British naval force entered the Yangtse, and was on the point of attacking Nanking (182 miles from the mouth) when the Chinese sued for peace. Sixteen years later, after the Second China War, one of the clauses of the Treaty of Tientsin * The author served as an Engineer Officer with the China Navigation Company from 1928 until 1938, and was on the Yangtse in 1930 in the Shengking and again in 1934 in the Wuhu. He was captured by pirates in the Newchang river in Manchuria in 1933 and held prisoner for five and a half months. During and after the War he was in the Colonial Service in West Africa, but in 1958 he returned to service with the China Navigation Company, and this has enabled him to revisit a number of the former Treaty Ports. 1 Chinese records mention the visit of a 'Roman merchant' to Nanking about 230 A.D. See G. F. Hudson, Europe and China (London, 1931), p. 90. Page 120 Page 121 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1963 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/4m90m091v 108 A. D. BLUE provided that the river be opened to foreign shipping. This commenced the modern or more correctly the European history of the river. By the terms of the Treaty of Tientsin three ports on the river were opened to foreign shipping and trade - Chinkiang, Kiukiang, and Hankow, Hankow, by far the largest and most important of the three, was six hundred miles from the mouth of the river. The Franco-Chinese Treaty, signed at the same time, provided for the opening of Nanking. At that time, however, and for a further six years, Nanking was occupied by the Taiping rebels, and no attempt was made to trade there, and it was not until 1899 that the Chinese Maritime Customs opened a station there. When the Treaty of Tientsin was signed in 1858 most of the Lower Yangtse was in a disturbed state because of the Taiping Rebellion, and a great part of the river was under rebel control. In these circumstances, therefore, it was not expected that the river would be opened to foreign trade until the restoration of Imperial authority. Lord Elgin, the British Plenipotentiary, however, was unwilling to wait for this, and persuaded the Chinese authorities to allow him to make a voyage up the river. His expedition consisted of the frigates Retribution and Furious, and three small gunboats, Cruiser, Lee, and Dove. After being fired on by the rebels at two places, Hankow was reached on 6th December 1858, the first time it had been visited by a foreign ship. Lord Elgin went ashore at several places on the river, and made short excursions into the country. He found the people to have no sympathy with the rebels, and thought they welcomed the prospect of foreign trade. He also thought them reasonably prosperous and contented, and not too heavily taxed. At Hankow he found coal and iron, the latter in abundance, also considerable quantities of imported cotton and woollen goods; but he formed the opinion that British manufacturers would have to exert themselves to supplant native goods. It was a pleasing fallacy, he wrote, to imagine that it was only the malign influence of intriguing mandarins which caused the Chinese to prefer native to foreign goods. James Matheson, one of the founders of Jardine, Matheson and Company, frankly admitted on several occasions the superiority of Chinese nankeens over Manchester cotton goods. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1963 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/4m90m091v NAVIGATION ON THE YANGTSE 109 The Imperial forces had very little success against the Taipings in the next two years, and although it had been stipulated that the three ports on the river were not to be opened until they were defeated, a second naval expedition left Shanghai early in 1861 to establish consular posts at Chinkiang, Kiukiang, and Hankow. This expedition went up 158 miles beyond Hankow before turning back. Shortly after the return of this expedition the river was opened to foreign trade. There is some ambiguity about Western policy during the Taiping Rebellion. It seems to have been regarded with sympathy in the early stages, when it was looked on as a reforming movement with Christian affiliations; and many foreigners welcomed the prospect of a change from the corrupt and reactionary Manchu régime. The British, American, and French governments, therefore, adopted a policy of neutrality in the early stages of the conflict. Later on, however, a marked change took place, which was not entirely due to the excesses committed by the rebels. Commercial considerations undoubtedly played some part. The Treaty of Tientsin had legalised the opium trade, but the Taipings were against opium and alcohol, and banned this trade in the territory under their control. They also made it clear that under their rule foreign trade would not be carried on in the one-sided manner so favourable to the foreign merchants. The Treaty of Tientsin again had stipulated that foreign ships could not navigate the Yangtse until peace was restored. Because of these and other reasons, the Western Powers abandoned their policy of neutrality. The rebels were looked on and referred to as firebrands and extremists, and the Manchu government as a peaceful and stabilising element, and steps were taken to help the latter. These included supplying the government forces with arms and ammunition — including the new Lee Enfield rifle, not yet used in Europe — allowing foreign steamers to transport government troops, and supplying officers to train and lead them.* As a result Nanking was captured in 1864, and the last vestiges of the rebellion were stamped out by 1866. In 1862 the Scotland, a steamer belonging to Lindsay and Company of Shanghai was the first ocean-going merchant ship to go to Hankow, and thus opened the interior of China to direct * Gordon was the most famous of these officers. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1963 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/4m90m091v NAVIGATION ON THE YANGTSE 111 cities, which together constitute Wuhan, as 8,000,000—almost certainly a great exaggeration.3 Lord Elgin, some fifteen years later during the Taiping Rebellion, thought it to be about 1,000,000, and that it would have been about 2,000,000 before the rebellion. It must, therefore, have been a more important city than either Canton or Shanghai at that time. Like those cities, it was the centre of a network of waterways which connected it with a great area of the surrounding country. In the first few years after the opening of the river Hankow resembled a boom town in the American West. Fortunes were made and lost in a few months, and passages from Shanghai were at a premium, up to £100 being paid for the trip. This initial boom was followed by the inevitable collapse, in this case intensified by the depression in the cotton market when the American Civil War came to an end, and a fall in tea prices which came at the same time. Trade on the river had been damned up for years by the Taipings, so that a boom following the opening of the river was only natural. By 1862 there were twenty steamers running regularly on the river, and there was such a demand for steamers that, as one writer described it, “everything which could burn coal was employed at high freights". The freight on light goods from Shanghai to Hankow was as high as £6 per ton for a voyage lasting only three or four days. The first European ships on the river were small schooners, shallow draft paddle steamers, and lorchas.* The pioneer river steamer, as distinguished from warships and ocean-going steamers, was the American Firedart, which had been designed originally for the Canton River. She was soon followed by others specially designed for the Yangtse, and within a short time after the opening of the river, there were regular services between Shanghai and Hankow, The early years of foreign trade on the Yangtse coincided with the last years of near American supremacy in shipping and shipbuilding, and the first British steamers to run on the river were built in America. Although the majority of foreign trading firms in the treaty ports at that time were British, the Americans were very serious competitors in the field of shipping. The * According to recent census figures the population of Wuhan is now 2,200,000. • A sailing ship with a European hull but Chinese type of rig. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1963 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/4m90m091v NAVIGATION ON THE YANGTSE 113 transport. It was so successful that by 1872 it had a fleet of 17 steamers, had established 9 depots on the river, and found it necessary to increase its capital from Tls. 1,000,000 to Tls. 2,000,000." During 1866 and 1867 the Shanghai Steam Navigation Company succeeded in obtaining almost a complete monopoly of the Yangtse river trade, at least in that part of it carried by foreign ships. In these two years the rival American company of Olyphant withdrew their two steamers, Jardine's transferred their two river steamers to the Hong Kong-Shanghai run, and the Shanghai Steam Navigation Company bought the steamers of Dent, Lindsay, and Heard. Their only remaining rivals were two steamers of the recently formed Union Steam Navigation Company, a Shanghai British company. These were not serious rivals to American supremacy, but in five years' time were to be sold to a new British company which was destined to challenge the American near monopoly on the river successfully. Although American steamers were supreme on the Yangtse at this time, and also prominent on some of the coast runs, British trading firms were still the most powerful foreign firms in the treaty ports as a whole, including the three newly opened ports on the Yangtse. British ships were also the most prominent in the foreign trade of China, including that from the Yangtse ports. In 1869, for instance, two British ocean steamers went up to Hankow at the height of the tea season and loaded direct for Europe, and were followed by six in 1870, and nine in 1871.* This, of course, was a serious challenge to the Shanghai Steam Navigation Company. Company. Of the Shanghai Steam Navigation Company's 17 ships at this time only five had been built in America, six having been built in Britain, and six in Shanghai; while a good proportion of their captains and officers were British. This, together with the fact that Russell and Company always had a friendly alliance "Of the original Tls. 1,000,000 capital about one third was contributed by members of Russell and Company, another third by foreign business men in Shanghai, of whom the majority were British, and the last third by Chinese business men, also in Shanghai. * Six of their steamers were on the Shanghai-Tientsin run, with calls at Chefoo, and two on the Shanghai-Ningpo run. ? As the result of a triangular arrangement between the firms of Russell, Jardine and Dent, Jardine withdrew to the coast, and helped Dent financially, and Russell agreed not to increase their services on the coast. * One of these was Holt's Agamemnon and the other the Erl King. After this Holt's sent at least two ships to Hankow each season. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1963 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/4m90m091v 116 A. D. BLUE There was intense rivalry between John Swire's China Navigation Company and Russell's Shanghai Steam Navigation Company in the years before the latter's ships were sold to the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company. John Swire seems to have adopted and improved on Russell's methods of soliciting business from Chinese merchants, and making his shipping services and godown facilities as attractive to them as possible. This was a policy which the "Princely Hong" were much slower in adopting in their shipping services. It is amusing to read F. B. Forbes's exasperated comments on a dinner party which Swire's compradores gave for their Chinese freight brokers, and at which their European clerks were present and assisted in the hostly duties.12 Forbes thought this undignified, but one imagines his real grievance was that he had not thought of this himself. The Chefoo Convention between Britain and China was signed in 1876, following the murder of A. R. Margary, a British consular officer, on the border between Burma and China. The connection between the two events may appear remote, but at this time the murder of a foreigner, or any untoward outburst of xenophobia on the part of the Chinese, was often followed by China being compelled to surrender some of her territory or sovereignty to the foreign power concerned. In this instance the Chefoo Convention provided for the opening to foreign trade of several more ports on the coast, and a further 340 miles on the Yangtse, the section between Hankow and Ichang known as the Middle River. Ichang, at the upper end of the Middle River, became a treaty port, and also Wuhu, a port between Nanking and Kiukiang. At the same time, Anking, Hichow, Luhchow, Tatung, and Wusueh, were opened to foreign trade as ports of call. These were ports where passengers and cargo could be loaded and discharged, but where foreigners had no rights of residence. All these ports of call, except Luhchow, were below Hankow; Luhchow being on the Middle River 70 miles above Hankow. F. B. Forbes was a nephew of P. S. Forbes, a former head of Russell and Company in America. He was a director of the Shanghai Steam Navigation Company from 1863 to 1866, and from 1868 to 1872, and president from 1872 to 1874. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1963 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/4m90m091v NAVIGATION ON THE YANGTSE UPPER & MIDDLE YANGTSE Chengtuy SZECHUAN Chungking TID"E 100 MILES 200 HUPLE H sichang Shesi 117 Hankow Yoshow FUNGTING GLAKE HUNAN Changsha 1104/2 It was not until 1878, two years after the Chefoo Convention was signed, that the first steamers went up beyond Hankow. In that year the China Navigation Company and the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company commenced a joint service between Hankow and Ichang. For technical reasons they were unable to maintain this service during the winter months of low water, and it was not until 1884 that a regular all-year-round service was commenced by Archibald Little with his small steamer Y-Ling, the other companies following suit a short time later. By 1901 there were twenty-two steamers running regularly between Hankow and Ichang, during daylight hours only, and it was not until 1920, after intensive surveys by the Chinese Maritime Customs, that night-time sailing was possible. A further section of the Yangtse was opened to foreign trade after China's defeat by Japan in the war of 1895, namely the 400 miles from Ichang to Chungking. At the same time Chungking and Shasi, the latter between Hankow and Ichang, became treaty ports. With the addition of Chungking to the list of treaty ports, ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1965 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s752cj653 THE POPULATION OF CHINA 29 Some years ago I had an opportunity of discussing the subject of Chinese population with the Mandarin at Ningpo who was charged with making the returns for that district. Ningpo can scarcely be called a progressive place; it is decidedly the least so of the Five Treaty Ports; but I found, generally speaking, that the real returns were considerably in excess of the official estimates. And I would remark, that, in taking the area of the Eighteen Provinces of China at 1,348,870 square miles, the census of 1812 would give 268 persons to a square mile, which is considerably less than the population of the densely peopled countries of Europe. According to ancient usage, the population in China is grouped under four heads, 1, Scholars; 2, Husbandmen; 3, Mechanics; 4, Merchants. There is a numerous class who are considered almost as social outcasts, such as Stage-players, professional Gamblers, Beggars, Convicts, Outlaws, and others; and these probably form no part of the population returns. In the more remote rural districts, on the other hand, the returning officer most probably contents himself with giving the average of more accessible and better-peopled localities. I have no means of obtaining any satisfactory tables to show the proportions which different ages bear to one another in China, or the average mortality at different periods of human life; yet to every decade of life the Chinese apply some special designation:- The age of 10, is called "the Opening Degree"; 20, “Youth expired"; 30, "Strength and Marriage”; 40, “Officially Apt"; 50, "Error knowing"; 60, “Cycle Closing"; 70, "Rare Bird of Age"; 80, "Rusty visaged"; 90, "Delayed"; 100, "Age's Extremity.” Among the Chinese the amount of reverence grows with the number of years. I made, some years ago, the acquaintance of a Buddhist priest living in the convent of Tien Tung near Ningpo, who was more than a century old, and whom people of rank were in the habit of visiting in order to show their respect and to obtain his autograph. He had the civility to give me a very fair specimen of his handwriting. There are not only many establishments for the reception of the aged, but the Penal Code provides severe punishments for those who refuse to relieve the ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1965 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s752cj653 PIRACY ON THE CHINA COAST 71 Piracy was firmly rooted along the South China coast. Then, during the First China War, many junks were allowed to act as armed privateers, and when the war was over, became pirates rather than return to peaceful trade. Hong Kong and its neighbouring islands had always been centres of piracy, or the home of fishermen ambitious to earn a dishonest dollar or two from piracy. The new British colony must have appeared like manna from Heaven to these people, and the colony's first years were marked by an increase in piracy. There was a similar increase in piracy around Singapore at the same time. The founding of Singapore in 1819 had resulted in a great increase in native trade in the area, and this suffered severely from attacks by well-armed Chinese junks, which sometimes attacked European ships. Captain James Brooke with his sea Dyaks played a big part in suppressing piracy in these waters.1 The period between the First and Second China Wars is one of the most confusing in Chinese history. On one hand is the founding of a British colony at Hong Kong, the opening of the treaty ports, and the inception of regular shipping services along the coast; while on the other is the persistence of lawlessness and piracy. In the background is the increasing weakness of the Manchu Dynasty, and during the last years of the period, the Taiping Rebellion. When the East India Company controlled the China trade, there was little need for naval protection in Chinese waters, and the Cantonese were traditionally opposed to the Royal Navy. The large and well-armed East Indiamen and "Country" ships were perfectly capable of fighting their way past the pirates who infested the Canton River delta, as were smaller, but faster and equally well-armed opium clippers. In spite of Chinese objections, however, British warships visited Canton on several occasions. Anson called in the Centurion in 1741, on the famous voyage on which he captured the Manila galleon, and Cook in 1779 with the Resolution and Discovery after his three-year cruise in the Pacific. Cook's ships were careened, refitted, and provisioned at Canton, the East India Company advancing the money in return for bills on the Admiralty in London. 1 The first white Rajah of Sarawak. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1965 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s752cj653 72 A. D. BLUE For the first few years after the cession of Hong Kong, the British Government and Royal Navy practically ignored piracy on the South China coast; and the American, French, and Portuguese governments were equally indifferent. Any attempts at suppression by the Hong Kong Government were as feeble and ineffective as those of the Canton authorities. British traders in Hong Kong and the treaty ports, however, considered that they were entitled to much greater protection, and after repeated protests and representations to the home and Hong Kong governments, the Hong Kong Government passed its first anti-piracy ordinance in 1847, and the Royal Navy began to take more effective action. As a result, many unsavoury practices were uncovered. It was found that certain British merchants were supplying arms and ammunition to the pirates against whom they were demanding protection; and that Hong Kong officials were licensing ships to provide convoy protection for Chinese traders, which ships were using the cover of the British flag to plunder the cargoes they were paid to protect. This licensed convoy system was open to much abuse, and a source of great trouble to the Navy. The Chinese called these ships "protecting tigers." The Navy itself was not blameless in its anti-piracy operations. The over-generous bounty system, which made pirate hunting a lucrative profession for the first decades after the cession of Hong Kong, often led to innocent Chinese traders and sailors losing their lives and property. Admiralty records ignore most of the errors committed by overzealous naval officers, but the Navy's anti-piracy campaign was one of the many British activities to draw unfavourable criticism from Lord Elgin in his mission to China and Japan in 1858. The Royal Navy and the Hong Kong Government faced a difficult and complex situation when they undertook serious anti-piracy operations in the late 1840's. The Navy could attack pirates anywhere on the high seas, and commit them for trial to any British or Chinese court; but Hong Kong could only free its own waters of pirates. Piracy on the coast and rivers came within the jurisdiction of the Chinese Government, and neither the Navy nor Hong Kong could operate there without permission from the Canton authorities. Anglo-Chinese co-operation, therefore, was essential for successful anti-piracy operations, and this was not always available. The Treaty of Tientsin was the first ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1965 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s752cj653 PIRACY ON THE CHINA COAST 73 official agreement between the two countries to refer to piracy. and Article 52 gave British warships permission, when in pursuit of pirates, to enter any port on the coast. Provision was also made for co-operation between the Royal Navy and the Chinese for punishment of pirates, restoration of stolen goods, and so on, and later treaties and agreements followed the same pattern. Unfortunately, experience proved that the Chinese had undertaken more than they could carry out; and that the provincial authorities were as often unwilling, as unable, to implement the pledges of the Peking Government. The pirates on the coast in the 1840's, 50's, and 60's, included British, American, French, and other foreign renegades, who often worked in league with Chinese merchants in Hong Kong and the treaty ports. The system of ship registry then in force in Hong Kong was even more liable to abuse than the present system, and allowed Chinese shipowners an easy means of claiming the protection of certain foreign flags. This increased the difficulties of the Navy, already hard pressed to distinguish between convoy and pirate, and between pirate, trader, and fisherman. The most famous renegade among the pirates in the 1850's was an American sailor called Eli Boggs, for whose capture the Hong Kong Government offered a reward of $1,000. This was won by an even more famous American sailor, more often associated with blackbirding in the Pacific, than with piracy on the China coast. Captain Bully Hayes, however, made his debut on the China coast, and when that part of the world became too hot for him he moved south to Australasian and Pacific waters. Hayes first appeared in the Far East in 1854 at Singapore, as master of the American barque, Canton. He was then twenty-five years old. After selling the Canton, which did not belong to him, he appeared in Hong Kong a few months later as master of another American barque, the Otranto, which was probably under charter to the famous American house of Russell and Company. In Hong Kong's Victoria Hotel, and in the company of the masters of two Jardine opium clippers, Long John Saunders of the Chin Chin and King Tom Donovan of the Spray, Hayes made the acquaintance of some naval officers, and for the rest of his time on the coast he was a great favourite with the Navy. During ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1965 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s752cj653 74 A. D. BLUE this time he visited Amoy, Foochow, and Shanghai several times, and it was in 1857 north of Shanghai that he captured his compatriot Eli Boggs. Hayes was a guest on H.M.S. Bittern when she attacked Boggs's fleet of between thirty and forty junks. When the junks fled into shallow water out of range of the Bittern's guns, Hayes persuaded Captain Vansittart to allow him to continue the chase in the longboat, and in this he personally captured Boggs. Boggs was taken to Hong Kong and found guilty of piracy. He escaped hanging, however, as no one could be found willing to swear to having seen him commit murder. Hayes helped the Royal Navy on another occasion shortly afterwards, when he was on the steamer, Paoushan, and on this occasion obtained some of the pirates' ill-gotten gains for his trouble. He was a free spender, however, and everything went on a series of parties he gave for the officers and men of the Bittern in Shanghai, after which he left with his port dues unpaid and owing money to Chinese shopkeepers and tailors. This was a favourite trick which he repeated in Australian and South Pacific ports, and his final departure from the coast was in the same vein. He loaded a hundred coolies in Swatow for Australia, before Swatow was legally open as a treaty port, and did a large illegal trade in opium and emigrants. Hayes induced his passengers to pay him their poll tax for Australia as well as their passage money. After passing through Sydney Heads he flooded his bilges to give his ship the appearance of sinking, and then persuaded a tugboat to take the Chinese ashore to safety, by promising it the salvage work on its return. When the tugboat returned, however, Hayes and his ship had disappeared beyond the Heads. The Navy had several spectacular successes against the pirates during this period, on a much bigger scale than those in which Hayes was involved. The most notable were Admiral Sir John Dalrymple Hay's actions against Shap-ng-tsai and Chu-apoo in South China waters in the summer of 1849, in which dozens of pirate junks were destroyed and hundreds of pirates killed. These actions cost the Admiralty £42,000 in bounty money, which was considered far in excess of the risks involved, and were responsible for the bounty system being modified. In spite of these naval successes piracy continued to flourish in South China, and new ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1966 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/bz60k0811 73 THE FOREIGN RELATIONS OF BUDDHISM IN MODERN CHINA HOLMES WELCH (This article is the preliminary version of a chapter in a forthcoming book, The Buddhist Revival in China. It deals with most aspects of its topic except for certain activities of T'ai-hsu, who is the subject of a separate chapter. Some readers may have personal knowledge of the events described and be in a position to add or correct. The author hopes that they will communicate with him at the East Asian Research Center, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, so that the chapter in its final form may be as complete and accurate as possible.) The Ch'ing government frowned on its people having contact with foreigners almost as much as does the government in Peking today. From 1911 to 1950, however, there was a forty-year interlude during which foreigners could travel freely in China and the Chinese found it relatively easy to go abroad. This was also the period when foreign ideas and ways of doing things enjoyed the highest esteem, when the impact of the West was at its zenith. The Buddhist monastic establishment could not remain unaffected, although, being "outside the secular world,” it was affected somewhat less than other segments of Chinese society. Sometimes the foreign impact on Buddhism was circuitous--such as, for example, the Western military victories, which led to the call for modern secular schools, which led to the confiscation of monasteries, which led to the establishment of Buddhist associations, seminaries, and social action by the sangha. But in other ways foreign impact was direct. Chinese Buddhists entered into contact with foreigners for a variety of reasons and purposes. Contact with Japan From the sixth through the seventeenth century imports of Chinese Buddhism had been entering Japan. In the late nineteenth the process was reversed. Japanese Buddhism began to be imported to China, partly because of the Japanese parishes that were springing up in the Treaty ports and partly because of the possibilities for the use of Buddhism as an instrument of foreign policy. Copyright 1966 by Holmes Welch. The author is a Research Associate of the East Asian Research Center, Harvard University. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1966 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/bz60k0811 74 HOLMES WELCH In 1873 the first Japanese missionary arrived in the Middle Kingdom. His name was Ogurusu Kocho and he had been sent to look over the situation in Shanghai by the Higashi Honganji sub-sect of Jodo Shinshu (the larger of the two main Pure Land sects). The following year he paid another visit to Shanghai and also went to Peking. In 1876 the Higashi Honganji drew up a new creed that could be interpreted as a bid for collaboration with the state. Among other things, it emphasized that glorious death in military service would be rewarded by rebirth in the Western Paradise. It spoke of brotherhood with the Chinese in face of the unfilial barbarians. In May that year Count Otani, the hereditary patriarch of the subsect went to Tokyo accompanied by Ogurusu Kocho, and consulted Terashima Munenori in the Foreign Ministry on the problem of missionary work in China. We are not told the substance of their conversation, but in August a branch temple opened its doors in Shanghai, staffed by six priests, including Ogurusu. It was "the first Japanese religious organization in China."2 After China's defeat by Japan in 1895 a trade agreement was signed that gave the Japanese the right to construct temples in all the Treaty Ports. In 1896 Nanking had a Honganji temple.3 Shanghai got a Nichiren temple in 1899 and a second Honganji temple in 1906. According to one source special efforts were made to build temples in Fukien province, where the Japanese were trying to create a sphere of influence across the straits from their newly acquired colony of Formosa. Their missions were often able to attract parishioners because they could offer the same protection as their Christian counterparts, but did not require anyone to give up ancestor worship. The aim, however, was not merely parish-building, but use of the missions in the same way as the European powers. Thus in the autumn of 1900 a Japanese temple in Amoy was mysteriously destroyed by fire. A few hours later Japanese marines landed from a warship that had been waiting in the harbor and occupied the city. Only the strongest British representations induced Japan to withdraw her troops and bring her first "missions case" to a close. A more subtle approach was already on its way. In 1899 the East Asian Cultural Alliance had been established to create an ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1966 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/bz60k0811 76 HOLMES WELCH against their own laws and protested vigorously against Japanese interference, but to no avail. These developments frightened the Chinese Government, which proceeded to cancel the authorization for its local officials to confiscate monastic property. The wave of affiliation with the Honganji died down. In any case, however, it had been limited to the area of the Treaty ports. Japan had tried to claim the same missionary rights elsewhere, invoking the "most favoured nation" clause, but without success. It failed again in 1915 when the fifth group of its Twenty-one Demands (including parity with Western missionaries) was rejected. Indeed, during the whole first twenty-five years of the Republican period, its missionary work in China was said to have been "hindered by conditions” - a phrase that may allude to growing anti-Japanese feeling as well as to civil wars. Very few new temples were established. Therefore Tokyo turned its attention to the possibilities for ecumenical cooperation. In 1923-1924 the Japanese Foreign Ministry took an interest in the Buddhist conferences held at Lu Shan under the auspices of T'ai-hsü. In 1924 it arranged for Japanese delegates to be present and to offer their country as the venue for a similar conference the next year. Accordingly, the East Asian Buddhist Conference was held in Tokyo November 1-3, 1925. Twenty-one Chinese delegates attended, unofficially led by T'ai-hsü. The only other delegations were from Korea and Formosa with three members each. T'ai-hsü pointed out that whereas the Chinese excelled at religious cultivation, the Japanese excelled in organizing propaganda and community service. Thus the Buddhists of the two countries had complementary talents. A Sino-Japanese liaison committee was set up to put these talents to work, with Wang I-t'ing as the Chinese representative, and resolutions were passed to carry on work in the fields of education and social welfare. Also included in the conference was a symposium on Buddhist doctrine at which T'ai-hsü gave papers on the doctrine of alaya-vijnana and the secularization of Japanese Buddhism. Plans were made to hold the next East Asian Buddhist Conference in Peking--plans that never materialized. After the meeting the Chinese delegates were given an eighteen-day V.I.P. tour. Everywhere local government officials entertained ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1966 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/bz60k0811 OLD BRITISH KOWLOON 137 50 The Hong Kong Blue Books for 1904 onwards list Basel Mission out-stations at Shaukiwan on Hong Kong Island and at To Kwa Wan, Sham Shui Po and Kowloon Tong in Kowloon. It is not certain when the Sham Shui Po station was opened as The China Mission Hand Book p. 279 lists two out-stations from Hong Kong but does not give their names. The earlier Blue Books are not much help. 51 Hung Hom, Tai Kok Tsui and Mong Kok Tsui had their docks and in Sessional Papers 1899, p. 482 Tai Kok Tsui is described as "an industrial area". 52 This study was hampered by the fact that no early land records appear to have survived for the group of villages described in this article. The only information I have been able to obtain, besides evidence from maps, relates to squatter licenses. A list for 1896, which appears in Sessional Papers 1897, p. 203, includes Ho Man Tin (37), Tai Shik Kwu (1) and Mong Kok (57). L + Addenda I ought not to leave this subject without mentioning the bad feeling between Hakkas and Cantonese in British Hong Kong which was the legacy of the disturbed times during the Taiping rebellion. Mayers, Dennys and King, the authors of The Treaty Ports of China and Japan (London and Hong Kong, 1867) state that fights between Hakka and Punti were common in British Hong Kong and that many Hakka labourers had come to Hong Kong with vivid memories of ill-treatment in their native place. It seems that these fights were not confined to immigrant labourers with scores to settle. Eitel records that for several days in August 1862 "the peninsula of Kowloon presented the novel aspect of an animated battle field, as the Punti inhabitants of the neighbouring villages were engaged in a bloody warfare with the Hakka settlers at Tsim Sha Tsui". A previous engagement, presumably between the same people, occurred in the same place in August 1859 when hostilities lasted two days though "little damage was done beyond a few knife wounds". We are told that "The Hakkas remained masters of the situation" (Dennys etc. p. 84). At that time, according to this source, the Puntis "have an intense antipathy to the Hakkas" (p. 19). It is interesting that this is reflected in the fact that the Canton Coolie Corps which assisted our army in the Second Chinese War 1857-60 was recruited in Hong Kong entirely from among Hakkas. See W. Stanton The Triad Society, Hong Kong, Kelly & Walsh 1900, p. 26. Further to the early descriptions of Yau Ma Ti given in the text I have since come across another in Sessional Papers 1888, p. 103, in which it is stated that "the boatmen and fishermen who have hitherto constituted the residents of Yau Ma Ti are gradually becoming outnumbered by town people and artizans (sic) from Hong Kong who are attracted to Yau Ma Ti by the lower rents charged them for house accommodation". ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1966 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/bz60k0811 148 BOOK REVIEWS As he very aptly writes in the 'Author's Note', the book describes the voyage which "starts in Hong Kong and ends there; the ports visited are those colonies in which I served: Bermuda, Jamaica, Nigeria and Fiji and the Western Pacific, as well, of course, as Hong Kong". Even more appropriate for this review, however, is his comment: "I did not keep a diary and I made no notes. For my story I have relied mainly on my memory which, at times, may be at fault, but only, I believe, on points of detail. I have recounted, and commented on, those happenings that remain foremost in my mind." The memory of the author is indeed faultless: he can remember all the trivials, but in doing so, he has left out (very painstakingly, it seems) the really important events that happened during his various tours of duty. In this connection, the subdivision of the chapters into Pre-War Days 1922-41, War Years 1942-45 and Post-War Hong Kong 1947-57, becomes extremely misleading. To cite only two examples of exclusion: the reunification of China (1926-28) and Jamaican attempts at self-government prior to and during his term of office. Perhaps most disappointing is the chapter which is burdened with the heading of 'Communist China'. The chapter indeed starts off with pomposity: "On 1st October 1949, the Chinese communists declared themselves to be the lawful government of China. Why did China go communist? This is a question to which different answers are given. Some say, because China was betrayed... betrayed by whom?... the United States, the Kuomintang." But then, this is all there is to it. After a brief account of the 'history' of China's struggles since the days of the treaty ports, we are treated to a narration of 'incidents' (for example, the exploits of the HMS Amethyst and the Kashmir Princess) in fact, well-known events, which unfortunately provide no new information. It is only in the last chapter titled 'Retrospect', that we glimpse the author's own political viewpoint. He only superficially analyses the political situation in Asia and we conclude that he is anti-communist. Taking the book as a publishable autobiography, however, it becomes more satisfactory. We can perceive, reading somewhat between the lines, the mentality of a British civil servant, struggling from the lowest offices to the highest one in the Colonial Service. It is a picture of loyalty to one's country, diligence in one's duties and opportunism in one's promotions. In other words, it is the ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1966 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/bz60k0811 NOTES AND QUERIES 161 prefix faan in Cantonese, I would like to offer alternative etymologies for some of the words which he discusses and to suggest that it is to Portuguese—often in its Asian dialectal forms that we should look rather than to Arabic for the immediate sources of several loans. The Arabs were certainly present in Canton from early times but so, since the middle sixteenth century, were the Portuguese, and the part played by them from the beginning in introducing the cultivation of new plants to China from other parts of the world has already been demonstrated in various works by Mr. Jack Braga of Hong Kong. Not only is it possible for certain Portuguese expressions to have entered the southern Chinese dialects through the dialect of Macao but also through the Portuguese lingua franca or pidgin, widely used on the coasts and amongst the islands of Asia during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and through China coast pidgin English which had its hey-day towards the end of the eighteenth and throughout the nineteenth in Canton and Hong Kong as well as in the Treaty Ports and, for that matter, in Macao itself. Pidgin English, originally more Portuguese in aspect than in the period of its decline, bears the marks of Indo-Portuguese influence in forms such as amah (female servant), coolie (labourer), comprador (local agent or grocer), chop (stamp), chit (slip of paper), tiffin (luncheon). In short, some Indo-Portuguese expressions may have been introduced to the Cantonese by the English and other foreigners rather than by the Portuguese or Macanese. Others, such as derivatives of leilão, (auction), must have entered several Chinese dialects at an earlier date. While agreeing that it is of importance to establish the date of the introduction to China of the cultivation of all plants whose names are qualified by the prefix faan in Cantonese, I cannot accept the statement that "it would appear that the prefix faan is used only for importations from the Pacific." Three of the four plants with the faan prefix mentioned by the author almost certainly came from the West. They are the tomato, the guava, and the sweet potato. Of these three, the guava and the sweet potato were brought by the Spaniards to the Old World, and their very names in Spanish and English are from the Taino-Arawak dialect of the Greater Antilles. The tomato, a Mexican plant ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1967 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/0c488p70g THE CHINA COASTERS 83 essential; although there was a point beyond which these could be detrimental to the owner. The rent which the compradore paid to the owners for the deck passenger space depended on the number of passengers usually carried in that particular trade. It was adjusted periodically according to fluctuations in trade and other factors, and was the subject of keen bargaining between owners and compradore — the latter naturally putting a much lower evaluation on the ship's passenger potentiality than the owners. At irregular intervals the owners sent someone to travel on the ship, and check the number of passengers and the amount of cargo carried. These men were known as 'pidgin snatchers' and were very unpopular with the floating staff. If the captain and compradore were good friends and either knew in advance of the 'pidgin snatcher's' movements, the other was warned, and co-operative counter measures instituted in good time. Most China coasters called at their home port of Hong Kong or Shanghai at least once a month, so that their officers were in much closer touch with life ashore than their contemporaries on overseas ships. During the inter-war period, normal tours of service on the coast were five years, in the course of which officers would serve in several of their company's ships. Many senior officers were married, and had wives and families in Hong Kong or Shanghai, or in a few cases Hankow. Long home leave was granted after a five years tour, but the attractions of life on the coast made many officers and their wives reluctant to go on leave. Captains and mates on ships where 'pidgin' were plentiful, were afraid they might be posted to less profitable ships on their return; while wives were loath to exchange their smoothly-run homes for the doubtful comforts of furnished rooms or boarding houses in Britain. European homes in Hong Kong, Shanghai, or the treaty ports, were sparsely staffed by African or Indian standards, but run much more efficiently. A cook and house boy, sometimes only a cook boy, sufficed for a small house or flat, supplemented by a baby amah or gardener if circumstance warranted this. A similar establishment in India would have been indifferently served by a staff twice as large. Although the taipans of the big foreign companies and senior customs commissioners lived in considerable style, life on the coast was in general much less ostentatious than in India, and much more pleasant. Page 90 Page 91 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1967 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/0c488p70g 170 NOTES AND QUERIES 16 This bell is dated in the autumn of Chien Lung year (1773). 17 Summary of Report of the Squatters Commission, p. 115. The same man said (p. 122) that Ap Lei Chau 'was built about 1850'. 18 Hong Kong Government Gazette for 28 March 1857 p. 4, Table No. 3. 19 Hong Kong Government Gazette for 1867 p. 92, Table No. 7. 20 Mayers, Dennys and King. The Treaty Ports of China and Japan (London, Trubner and Co., 1867) p. 49. 21 Hong Kong Sessional Papers, i.e. Papers laid before the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, for 1897 and 1911, pp. 484 and 103(23) respectively. 22 Mayers, Dennys and King, p. 49 mention 'boat-building and general trade'. See also information given in the printed proceedings of a court case over ownership of land on Ap Lei Chau given in Sessional Papers August 1886 - September 1887 (Appendix to Report from the Land Court of 1886-87), pp. 33-35. 23 For another example see my article on Cheung Chau (an island near Hong Kong that together with the rest of the New Territories was leased to Great Britain by the Convention of Peking, 1898) in Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. 3 (1963), especially pp. 95-98. 24 Sessional Papers 1911 and 1897 at the pp. quoted at note 21 above. 25 See also the article referred to at note 23 above. 26 This and the previous paragraph are based on the oral statements of three Ap Lei Chau elders born 1887, 1891 and 1897 who had belonged to the three Fongs. Their evidence helps to interpret and confirm the evidence given before the Squatter Board during a hearing to determine ownership of the Hung Shing temple in 1893. See Summary of Report of the Squatters Commission, pp. 120-141. Footnote: It is clear from re-reading Sayer, pp. 22-23, that the Hung Shing temple was originally on a small island that was later, and before Sayer wrote in 1937, joined by reclamation to its larger neighbour Ap Lei Chau. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1968 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833948d 66 H. A. RYDINGS 4 G. H. Preble, The opening of Japan; a diary of discovery in the Far East, 1853-1856, ed. by B. Szczesniak, Norman, University of Oklahoma Press, 1962, p. 58. 5 By 1867 Hong Kong was minting its own dollars. The English gold sovereign was quoted at this time at HK$4.60. 6 From the article on "The City Hall" in V. H. G. Jarrett, op. cit. 7 Twentieth century impressions of Hongkong, Shanghai, and other treaty ports of China, ed. by A. Wright and H. A. Cartwright, London, Lloyd's Greater Britain Publ. Co., 1908, p. 162. 8 D. Scott, "The Morrison Library”, JHKBRAS, vol. 1, 1960-61, pp. 50-67. 9 J. W. Norton-Kyshe, The history of the laws and courts of Hongkong, London, T. Fisher Unwin, 1898, vol. II, p. 252. 10 ibid., vol. II, p. 369. 11 ibid., vol. II, p. 429. 12 ibid., vol. II, p. 430. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1968 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833948d 119 CAPITALISM AND THE CHINESE PEASANT; SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CHANGE IN A CHINESE VILLAGE* Reviewed by H. G. H. NELSON† Jack Potter lived in Hang Mei, one of the eight villages making up the Tang stronghold of Ping Shan, from the autumn of 1961 to the beginning of 1963. His findings were first reported in his Ph.D. Thesis for the University of California, and apart from one or two minor, though not unimportant, textual changes, the bulk of the thesis is here presented verbatim. It has been changed in only one major respect: a short section on the effects of the Western Treaty Ports on the surrounding rural hinterland has been expanded into the essay which forms the book's concluding chapter; the title has also been changed from Ping Shan: the Changing Economy of a Chinese Village, The book's stated purposes are, first, to explore the reasons why the villagers of Ping Shan have prospered by their participation in the general commercial and industrial expansion of Hong Kong; second, to study the process of "depeasantization” and the penetration of the external market into the hitherto largely self-contained economy of the peasant; and third, to make a contribution to the understanding of the effects on China's rural economy of the Treaty Ports. A further tacit purpose of the book is the validation of some of the theories put forward by Freedman (1958) in Lineage Organization in Southeastern China—and it is one that is particularly well-served. Potter divides his field-data into three main sections: 1) the occupational structure of Ping Shan in the early 1960s, and the process by which some of the villagers have made the transition "from peasants to farmers". Capitalism and the Chinese Peasant; Social and Economic Change in a Chinese Village: Jack M. Potter, University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1968; pp. ix, 215, illustrated, US$5.75. † Mr. Howard Nelson is a graduate student of the University of London at present engaged on social research in the New Territories. Ping Shan is in the north-west New Territories of Hong Kong. For Ping Shan with Ha Tsuen see pp. 162-165 of A Gazetteer of Place Names in Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories (Hong Kong, Government Printer, n.d. but 1960). Ed. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1968 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833948d 124 H. G. H. NELSON tional Chinese rules of inheritance ensured the rapid redistribution of any accumulation of property. Estates could be created only by the injection of external capital derived from bureaucratic or commercial activity; and they were maintained by this device of incorporating them as collective holdings. Naturally enough, the ancestor in whose name an estate was incorporated was rarely, if ever, more remote than the father of the man who actually accumulated the land, so that no-one but his own and his brothers' sons and their descendants ever enjoyed the benefits of the property. Even if estates were concentrated in the hands of local, and not absentee landlords, the capital which created them was derived from external sources: and it may well be that the Treaty Ports stimulated this form of land-concentration by providing opportunities for the accumulation of capital on a greater scale than had ever been known before. There is evidence that this has happened in the New Territories: local men who prospered in business activities in Hong Kong city returned to their homes and invested the proceeds in land. It would have been instructive if Potter had told us exactly how Tang Jui-t'ai, ancestor G in the diagram, was able to accumulate his property. (It is not clear from the book whether he used the schedules of holdings drawn up in respect of private property by the Hong Kong Government a few years after the lease of the N.T. in 1898 which provide a unique source of socio-economic information about its many villages and form a base for later enquiries).* It is worth commenting, in passing, on another feature of the lineage's collective land-holdings, in which it is possible to see an exacerbation of the pre-existing situation. From Potter's description of the private benefits accruing to members of the corporation who are in a position to exploit their control of the land, it is quite clear that by far the majority of the benefits go to a small group of powerful men - political leaders and racketeers: and the poorer villagers, even if they know of this manipulation of property in which they, rightfully, have as good a share, can do little about it. Potter himself points out that this was probably always so, but that it is only recently that economic conditions — i.e. the enormous increase in land values and rents — have allowed such great profits to be made. * These have been utilised by Göran Aijmer in his article between pp.74-81. Ed. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1968 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833948d CAPITALISM AND THE CHINESE PEASANT 125 A corollary of the sudden rise in land values is of course a desire on the part of landlords or land manipulators to let or sell their land to the highest bidder. Tenant farmers were traditionally protected by an acknowledged system of secure tenancy, but the sanctions which supported this, though effective enough in the past, are rapidly being weakened now, and tenants' title to the land they farm is becoming increasingly insecure. They are seeking legal, documented contracts to protect their interests against those of the landlords. Rents were traditionally high; Potter's conclusion is that rent generally amounted to 45% of the crop—and it is clearly only because the system of reckoning rent, based on the potential rice yield of the land rented, has been slow to catch up with modern conditions that vegetable-growers are not paying much more than they are for their fields. As it is, Potter observed a tendency for rents to rise each time a new tenancy is arranged. In spite of increasing insecurity of tenure, and gradually rising rents, farmers' income has risen with the growth of Hong Kong: Potter, with unquestionable logic, derives the one from the other. But he does not explore the paradox that while the bulk of Hong Kong's development has taken place in the context of laissez-faire capitalism, two factors which have been of crucial benefit to the agricultural community have been the result of direct Government intervention: the Vegetable Marketing Organization (V.M.O.) and the Farmers' Cooperative. The paradox deserves consideration—the more so as Potter himself says that the farmers' reaction to the establishment of the Cooperative "might offer some hint as to the attitude of the peasantry on mainland China to the collectivization of agriculture". Despite farmers' criticisms, Potter's objective assessment is that both the V.M.O. and the Cooperative have been successful and of great value to the farmers. But how then is one to characterise the economic history of the New Territories since 1900? To this question Potter does not fully address himself, and he allows his section on the Cooperative to belie the implication of his title. In spite of the change of title, the argument of the book on the subject of the Treaty Ports is a considerable modification of the argument as presented in the thesis. This is all to the good; the micro-economist takes on the macro-economists at his peril. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1968 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833948d 126 H. G. H. NELSON case put by Fei Hsiao-tung and others who were influenced by the "orthodox" Marxist-Leninist interpretation is now convincingly shown to be oversimplified and misleading; and if not wholly unsatisfactory, at least open to serious question. Nevertheless, by his change of title, Potter exposes himself to the criticism that his original choice of field and the data he drew from it may not have been an adequate testing ground for so large an hypothesis. He asserts that in all relevant respects, the situation of Ping Shan resembled that of villages in the hinterland of other Western Treaty Ports; and although he acknowledges the fact of the security of land-tenure given by the British registration of all holdings in the Colony, he is inclined to minimise its importance. Villages in the Chinese mainland, however, had no such security, and, more importantly, lacked the benefits of the Pax Britannica. Hong Kong's peaceful development was interrupted only by the Japanese Occupation, and Potter recognises that as a watershed of change: how much greater changes must have been caused in China by the long series of upheavals that took place there? Potter's objections to the Marxist-Leninist interpretation of rural China's economy are otherwise well-founded. He shows that while in some areas rural handicrafts were destroyed, the extent to which peasants depended for their livelihood on rural handicraft industries was in general very slight: relatively few areas were as dependent as was Fei's Kaihsienkung on the silk industry. There is, in fact, evidence for the stimulation of China's rural industries by the presence of the Treaty Ports. Similarly, absentee landlordism was not so major a problem as has been supposed. Potter adduces data from a wide variety of sources on other villages in comparable situations, and concludes that the "orthodox" interpretation is invalidated by its failure to take into account the tremendous complexity and diversity of the data. He could indeed have brought his point home by citing the wide variety of reactions to modernisation apparent within the limited compass of the New Territories themselves. Potter has tackled a problem which is of major significance not only to the history of modern China but to the worldwide impact of the developed upon the undeveloped nations. It is not only the student of China who will welcome his eclectic approach and thorough re-examination of accepted views. He has made us aware of the diversity of China's rural scene before 1949, the com- ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1968 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833948d BOOK REVIEWS 177 documented account of the cut-and-thrust rivalry of the two Hong Kong firms. With the publication of Dr. Le Fevour's thesis* and the recent acceptance of the principle of scholarly access to the records of Jardine Matheson at Cambridge University, we may expect further dissection of this remarkable commercial network. However, one may reasonably doubt whether the account of the working of this system of finance and trade with Shanghai and Hong Kong as the nuclei and the Treaty Ports as the other vital constituents, will be written for a long time. Until it is, the economic history of Hong Kong cannot be studied. Butterfield and Swire's history, of course, does illustrate some of the principal developments which brought this system to its peak: the hemispheric swing of the firm's trading interests from America to the East (including Australia, about which this study could have been more informative -- apparently no reference was made to the history of the White Star Line published in 1964); the ultimate giving-up of trading activities to concentrate on agency services. The career of John Samuel Swire, too, in its insistence on business honour and rectitude, virtues of the Liverpool business man of the last century, which may strike the present day historian as unctuous, also illustrates crucial changes in business attitudes when we compare the original Taipans with their successors. The Senior was, I venture to think, not untypical in his scruples. It is precisely because this is an illuminating study of the character of the business man in relation to his partners, clients and rivals which makes it an important contribution to the study of business history. University of Hong Kong. ALAN BIRCH * Western Enterprise in China, 1842-95, to be published shortly as a Harvard Research Monograph. BOOKS RECEIVED The Council acknowledges with thanks books received from various publishers during the year, and in particular from the Hong Kong University Press and Oxford in Asia. A list for 1967-1968 will appear in the next issue of the Journal. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1968 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833948d 184 EITEL, Ernest J. THE LIBRARY Feng-shui: or, The rudiments of natural science in China. London, Trübner, 1873. bound with EITEL, Ernest J. Three lectures on Buddhism. Hong Kong, China Mail, 1871. ELLIOTT, Alan J. A. Chinese spirit-medium cults in Singapore. London, London School of Economics, Dept. of Anthropology, 1955. (Monographs on social anthropology, n.s., no.14) ELLIOTT-BATEMAN, Michael. Defeat in the East: the mark of Mao Tse-tung on war. London, Oxford U.P., 1967. EMBREE, John F. A Japanese village: Suye Mura. London, Kegan Paul, 1946. ENDACOTT, G. B. A biographical sketch-book of early Hong Kong. Singapore, Eastern Univs. P., 1962. ENDACOTT, G. B. A history of Hong Kong. London, Oxford U.P., 1958. Fables de la Chine antique. Pekin, Éditions en Langues Étrangères, 1958. FAIRBANK, John King. Trade and diplomacy on the China coast; the opening of the treaty ports, 1842-1854. Cambridge [Mass.] Harvard U. P., 1964. (Harvard historical studies, v. 62 - 63). FEDDERSEN, Martin. Chinese decorative art: a handbook for collectors and connoisseurs. Tr. by Arthur Lane. London, Faber, 1961. FINN, Daniel J. Archaeological finds on Lamma Island (##), near Hong Kong. Ed. by T. F. Ryan. Hong Kong, Ricci Hall, University of Hong Kong, 1958. Republication of articles originally appearing in the Hong Kong Naturalist, 1933-1936. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1969 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9g553n20d KING MONGKUT AND THE KINGDOM OF SIAM 83 opened the Treaty Ports and a second British conflict with China had proved the superiority of Western arms, the Chinese court refused to reform. The Japanese were quicker to read the signs. Only Siam, unlike her weak neighbours in the tropical south, was able to adapt herself to the new world without war or its threat and without loss of sovereignty. Why was this? Was it because Britain and France had agreed to the Thai kingdom being a buffer between their Indian and Indo-Chinese empires? Or was it that the King of Siam who received Sir John Bowring had more vision than most of his Asian contemporaries and was succeeded by an equally gifted son? Whatever the reasons, the Treaty of 1855 was a major factor in determining the future of the Thai kingdom. It provided for the opening of diplomatic relations with Britain and, as a natural consequence, with other western nations. It introduced extra-territorial rights to British subjects living in Siam and allowed them to own or rent property. In commerce the Treaty abolished the strangling system of monopolies owned by the King and 'farmed' to Chinese merchants - replacing it by a free market with low duties on imports and exports. The year after the conclusion of the British treaty the Americans and the French secured similar agreements and these in turn were hastily followed by treaties with various European nations. These treaties marked a turning-point in the modern history of Siam. In the century and a half which followed Louis XIV's mission to Ayuthia in 1689 Siam had little or no contact with the West. In the mid-eighteenth century her main preoccupation was the constant war with the Burmese who finally sacked their ancient and splendid capital in 1767. By the time the new house of Chakri had established the capital at Bangkok in 1782 the British East India Company had consolidated its dominion over India. The tea trade with China was growing rapidly and ports of call on the eastern run were obvious advantages. Francis Light obtained Penang island for the Company from the Sultan of Kedah in 1786 for the annual payment of $6,000 and the vague understanding of British protection. Kedah was an acknowledged feudatory of Siam, but at that time King Rama I was far too busy with the building of Bangkok to concern himself with the incident and the British were not then interested in Siam. Raffles had ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1969 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9g553n20d 94 R. BRUCE necessary for the late King? He would be welcome then, that is in 1852. At the same time he took the initiative in improving trading conditions. Monopolies were partly removed and duties on imports and exports reduced. For a moment it seemed that Siam's foreign relations could be improved without formal treaty and the British Government did not press the matter. But in fact there was much to be done, and with a new British Plenipotentiary at Hong Kong it was opportune to resume discussions. Sir John Bowring was a very different diplomat from his three British predecessors, Crawfurd, Burney and Brooke or the American envoys Roberts and Ballestier. He was an intellectual, a radical reformer, a disciple and editor of Jeremy Bentham, a linguist who could prattle in a dozen languages, an ex-Member of Parliament and a writer of hymns, an inveterate talker, a man with limitless energy and a Victorian capacity for pomposity and self-glory. After a career of business, politics, writing and self-appointed diplomacy in the courts of Europe, Bowring, being short of money, accepted public office as Consul at Canton. That was in 1849 when he was fifty-seven. Some five years later he became Governor of Hong Kong, Superintendent of Trade and, most glorious of all, Her Majesty's Plenipotentiary responsible for relations with China, Japan, Siam and all countries in the Far East. Bowring's five years' Governorship of the island colony on the coast of China was anything but successful. Some of his senior officials were incompetent and even corrupt, and he was unpopular among the British merchants. Worst of all he precipitated the second Anglo-Chinese war by sending warships to bombard Canton over a quite unworthy incident. But he was completely successful when he sailed to Bangkok in March, 1855, to negotiate a treaty with the Siamese. Most of the detailed business of the negotiations was done by Bowring's young assistants, his son John C. Bowring, an employee of Jardine, Matheson and Co. in Hong Kong, and Harry Parkes, his secretary, who was later to have a distinguished career as Consul at several ports on the China coast, (Mongkut referred to the young men as "Mr. Parkes and Your Excellency's upspring".) But it was Bowring and King Mongkut who created the favourable atmosphere which allowed progress to be rapid and the discussions congenial. It was clear from the start that the ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1969 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9g553n20d BOOK REVIEWS 171 tung. On the military side these events included two assaults on Canton itself, nearly four years of military occupation of the city (5.1.1858 - 21.10.1861) and various punitive expeditions on the Canton river and inside the province. On the civil and diplomatic side were the sequence of events connected with the question of entry to Canton, which the British held to have been promised them under the terms of the Treaty of Nanking in 1842. This culminated in the triumph of the Canton Viceroy in 1849 who was able to defer entry still further on the grounds of the rooted opposition of the gentry and people of the province to this step by their officials — though deferment was also due to Bonham's conviction that the real key to Canton lay not by warlike action there as in the North. These years also saw economic crises at Canton occasioned, among other factors, by the opening of four other treaty ports under the Nanking Treaty, and a wave of growing lawlessness across the province culminating in the great disorders of the 1850s in the wake of the Taiping rebellion. Mr. Wakeman's theme is the re-emergence of local militia in the early 1840's to assist in repelling the British forces and their continuance through the later years of the entry question (1846-49); the part they played in local defence against the Red Turban and other rebels, pirates and banditti in the early 1850s; their efforts against the British attack in 1857-58 and, under secret orders from Peking, in the guerilla struggle against the British in Canton in the first period of the occupation, until diplomatic agreement in the North led to their being told to desist. He traces the ebb and flow in official attitudes to the local militia from encouragement to discouragement, from enthusiasm to apprehension. He describes, too, the methods by which the militia were raised and financed and shows how they were a two-edged weapon to Government and people alike. Mr. Wakeman also traces the rise and wane of anti-foreign attitudes in Kwantung during this period and the paradoxical change from bitter enmity to a realisation, at least in Canton and its surrounds, that British troops were a guarantee against a multitude of threats from lawless elements. The treatment is masterly and authoritative, being based on a wide variety of sources in English and Chinese; the book is compelling and the narrative moves smoothly. In this review I shall confine my remarks mainly to the militia. First of all I wish to comment briefly on the use of the English ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1970 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ww72j0241 LORD ELGIN AND THE TAIPINGS 25 himself, use this opportunity to reach some kind of understanding with the Taipings? Did he use the opportunity to at least gain a greater understanding of them, as a possible prelude to a later accommodation? Let us look at the record. The occasion was Lord Elgin's trip up the Yangtze River following the yet-to-be-aborted Treaty of Tientsin of 1858. The treaty had provided for the opening of the Yangtze River to Western trade. The official purpose of the mission was to investigate suitable trading ports and trading conditions along the river in anticipation of the day when this concession could be fulfilled. Elgin departed Shanghai aboard H.M.S. Furious on November 8, 1858 and arrived in Hankow on December 6. He left Hankow on December 12, returning to Shanghai on January 1, 1859. Far from getting off to a diplomatic start as far as any approach to the Taipings was concerned the trip was conducted in the grand gunboat style. Elgin declared: I, of course, resolved that no human power, and no physical obstacle which could be surmounted should arrest my progress. It was obviously essential to the prestige of England, that a measure of this description, if undertaken at all, should be carried out; I could not therefore recognize in the rebels a right to stop me, nor could I take any step which they might construe into such an admission. Subject to this limitation, I was ready to give them every assurance that our movement was of a peaceful character, and that we did not intend to take part, one way or another, in the civil war to which they were parties.3 No effort was made to notify the Taipings of the coming of this special mission. As a result an almost predictable misunderstanding occurred when Elgin's mission reached Nanking. Unfortunately we only have the English version of the incident, but this is sufficient to raise some interesting questions. Upon reaching Nanking, Elgin dispatched a smaller vessel to communicate, if possible, with the Taiping authorities. As the vessel approached the Nanking batteries, it was not unnaturally fired upon. The vessel, however, was under orders not to return fire immediately, but to hoist a white flag first. It did so. The Taiping batteries, however, fired seven additional shots within three minutes time.5 Page 30 Page 31 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1970 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ww72j0241 32 STEPHEN UHALLEY, JR. in answering a question it is always their chief endeavour to say what they suppose their questioner will be best pleased to hear. If therefore the knowledge of a fact is to be arrived at, it is, above all things, necessary that the inquiry bear a tint so neutral that the person to whom it is addressed shall find it impossible to reflect its colour in his reply. He will then sometimes, in his confusion, blunder into a truthful answer, but he does so generally with a bashful air, indicative of the painful consciousness that he has been reluctantly violating the rules of good breeding. A search after accurate statistics, under such conditions, is not unattended with difficulty,38 Elgin, however, never seemed to think equally critically of the information brought for his consideration about the Taipings. While it is of utmost importance what opinions such high-ranking English decision-makers were forming of the Taipings, it need not be supposed that the foreign community in general at this time was similarly influenced. We have the account of a relatively high ranking English naval officer which stated quite explicitly: "When Lord Elgin returned from his expedition up the Yang-tze-kiang in 1858, his high-handed policy toward them at Nankin, Ngan-king, and elsewhere, was much disapproved of by a large section of the community, and it was thought that he had hardly done justice to them."39 One might legitimately raise the question again as to the purpose of the mission. We have already given the ostensible reason: to investigate suitable trading ports and trade conditions along the river. But this seems implausible. With a full-scale war taking place along the greater part of the lower Yangtze Valley, it was unlikely that such an investigation would prove of much value. The mission was premature in another respect as well, for it took place before the treaty was ratified, an observation that is especially to the point since the Ch'ing government did not, in fact, ratify the treaty. Actually, Elgin had two underlying purposes. First, he believed that the trip would confirm that the Emperor had in principle conceded the opening of the river, thus inducing the Chinese to take steps to put the treaty into effect. Second, Elgin reportedly believed that the trip would aid the Imperial cause against the Taipings since the "opening ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1970 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ww72j0241 CHINESE EMIGRATION AND THE DECK PASSENGER TRADE A. D. BLUE* Until after the Treaty of Tientsin of 1858, emigration from China was illegal, but this law, like so many others, was more honoured in the breach than in the observance, especially in the southern provinces of Fukien and Kwangtung, and to a lesser extent Kwangsi. Traders, however, were allowed to go abroad under certain conditions, which usually included eventual return to China. There had been emigration from these southern parts of China to most regions of South-east Asia for centuries before 1858, and there were flourishing colonies of Chinese at all the main ports when the first Europeans arrived there in the 16th century. The Ming fleet under Cheng Ho is said to have killed five thousand Chinese at Palembang in 1406, and while this is almost certainly an exaggeration, it is certain that these Chinese colonies were already populous. While treating briefly with Chinese emigration to other parts of the world, the following essay deals mainly with emigration to South-east Asia. The Chinese called this region the 'Nanyang', which literally means 'Southern Ocean'; but it is often used to describe other countries even further south, such as Australia, New Guinea, and the South Pacific islands. In the pre-European and early European eras, most overseas Chinese were traders, money lenders, and craftsmen, and their contribution to the economy of South-east Asia was out of all proportion to their numbers. The civil wars which succeeded the Manchu defeat of the Mings in south China in the mid-17th century gave a strong impetus to emigration; but the arrival of the Europeans in South-east Asia in time created the conditions favourable to Chinese settlement on a much larger scale. The Chinese were often the intermediaries between the Europeans and the native peoples, useful to each, but periodically incurring hostility from both. As they increased in numbers, the Chinese posed increasingly *The author served as an Engineer Officer with the China Navigation Company from 1928 until 1938, and was on the Yangtse in 1930 in the Shengking and again in 1934 in the Wuhu. He was captured by pirates in the Newchang river in Manchuria in 1933 and held prisoner for five and a half months. Three of his articles have been published previously in the Journal: "European Navigation on the Yangtse" in Vol. 3, 1963, "Piracy on the China Coast" in Vol. 5, 1965, and "The China Coasters" in Vol. 7, 1967. * See the note at the end of this article. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1970 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ww72j0241 CHINESE EMIGRATION AND THE DECK PASSENGER TRADE 81 Until the treaty port era that began with the Treaty of Nanking 1842, most Chinese emigration was voluntary, and mainly to South-east Asia. Then the situation changed. Almost coincident with the opening of the treaty ports and the expansion of foreign shipping on the coast, a widespread demand for cheap labour arose in many parts of the tropics, to replace the recently emancipated slave labour, and also to supply the additional workers required for the increased agricultural and industrial development which followed the establishment of European administrations. In many of these places contract labour from China provided the solution. Much of the contract labour was voluntary; but many thousands of the Chinese emigrants to the Spanish and ex-Spanish colonies of South America and the West Indies were kidnapped, abducted by unscrupulous crimps, or sold by cruel or poverty-stricken relatives. The coolies themselves were not always blameless, and many accepted engagement money and then failed to turn up at the collecting centres, or absconded before joining the ship. The labour agents employed by the centres received a capitation fee for every coolie they delivered at the coast, and were specially active during famines and depressions. In 1853 the capitation fee was three dollars per head, but in addition these agents often appropriated any money advanced to the coolies on the score of defraying expenses, and also charged them with the capitation fee, maintenance costs at the depot, and other expenses. As a result the unfortunate coolie often found himself saddled with a heavy debt which might amount to several months' wages before he ever set foot on the promised land. But whether voluntary or forced, the coolies were herded into wretched barracoons at the coast while waiting for their ship, and then suffered great hardship and cruelty on the voyage. In spite of repeated protests, British ships and Hong Kong played an invidious part in this infamous traffic in the early treaty port years. However, the British government soon made attempts to ameliorate the abuses of the emigrant trade but only succeeded in diverting much of it to other ports such as Whampoa, Macao, Cumsingmoon, Amoy, and Swatow. The Chinese Passengers' Act, passed in 1855, prescribed certain standards of food, accommodation, medical attention, and so on; and two years later a ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1971 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g 15 DRAGE, C. Taikoo London, Constable, 1970. EGERTON, H. E. Sir Stamford Raffles. London, Unwin, 1900. FITZGERALD, C. P. A concise history of East Asia, London, Heinemann, 1966. HEMMINGSEN, A. M., and GUILDAL, J. A. Observations on birds in northeastern China, especially the migration at Pei-tai-ho Beach. Hong Kong, Vetch & Lee, 1969. LAING, E. J. Chinese paintings in Chinese publications, 1956-1968: annotated bibliography and an index to the paintings. Ann Arbor, 1969 (Michigan Papers in Chinese Studies, no. 6) LAL, K. Miracle of Konark, New York, Castle Books, 1968. LAU, S. M. Joseph Ts'au Yüan. Hong Kong University Press, 1970. LI, Chi, and JOHNSON, D. Two studies in Chinese literature. Ann Arbor, 1968. (Michigan Papers in Chinese Studies, no. 3) MURPHEY, R. The treaty ports and China's modernization: what went wrong? Ann Arbor, 1970. (Michigan Papers in Chinese Studies, no. 7) OKSENBERG, M., and others. The cultural revolution, 1967, in review. Ann Arbor, 1968. (Michigan Papers in Chinese Studies, no. 2) RUTT, R. Korean works and days: notes from the diary of a country priest. Seoul, R. A. S., Korea Branch, 1964. SPEISER, W. China: spirit and society. London, Methuen, 1960. (Art of the world, 4) ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1971 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g 36 CHIU LING-YEONG After giving his reader a vivid picture of China in her sleep, Tseng then urged the public to watch closely for China in her awakening. The awakened China, he said, would not be aggressive or dangerous to any of her neighbouring countries. China, after all, was not a land-hungry nation. Hungering for land was only the affair of the European powers. China was under no necessity of finding in other lands outlets for her surplus population. A considerable number of Chinese had, at different times, been forced to leave their homes and try their fortunes in Cuba, Peru, the United States and the British colonies, on account of the Taiping Rebellion. The Chinese emigrated to these countries of their own free will, and their movement and activities had nothing to do with the Chinese Government. The Chinese in these countries, however, unlike the Europeans who had settled in the East, had no political nor territorial ambitions. Returning to the internal affairs of the awakened China, Tseng stressed: • Great efforts are being made to fortify her coast and create a strong and efficient navy. China will proceed with her coast defences and the organisation and development of her army and navy, without, for the present, directing her attention whether to the introduction of railways or to any of the subjects of internal economy; the changes which may have to be made when China comes to set her house in order can only profitably be discussed when she feels she has thoroughly overhauled and can rely on the bolts and bars she is now applying to her doors. The general line of China's foreign Policy will be directed to extending and improving her relations with the Treaty Powers, to the amelioration of the condition of her subjects residing in foreign parts, to the placing on a less equivocal footing of the position of her feudatories, as regards the suzerain power, to the revision of the treaties, in a sense more in accordance with the place which China holds as a great Asiatic power" "China has decided on exercising a more effective supervision on the acts of her vassal princes and of accepting a hostile movement against these countries or any interference with their affairs will be viewed at Peking as a declaration ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1971 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g THE DEBATE ON NATIONAL SALVATION 37 on the part of the Power committing it of a desire to discontinue its friendly relations with the Chinese government. "In the alienation of Sovereign dominion over that part of her territory comprised in foreign settlements at the treaty ports, as well as in some other respects, China feels that the treaties impose on her a condition of things which, in order to avoid the evil they have led to in other countries, will oblige her to denounce these treaties on the expiry of the present decennial period. China intends the establishment of manufactories, the opening of mines, and the introduction of railways. The publication of Tseng's article immediately attracted the attention of those who were interested in Far Eastern affairs. It was soon translated into German and French and was immediately published in leading papers of these two countries. Moreover, this article was simultaneously reprinted in several English newspapers in Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Tientsin.3 Immediately after the publication of this article in London, a Chinese translation was swiftly made available to the Chinese public. Reactions to this article, however, were not all favourable. The North China Herald in Shanghai, in its editorials on 16 February and 2 March 1887, stressed that Tseng's opinion on the Chinese Navy and Army was of no significance. The writer even quoted the comment of the French Premier, Jules F. C. Ferry, that "China is a great country, but in spite of her greatness, her existence can just be ignored." He further said that China was not only continuing her sleep, but, as a matter of fact, she was on the verge of death. Tseng Chi-tse's article was nothing but boasting." Criticism also came from The Spectator in London: In fact, what Marquis Tseng announces in his article is not true..... to purchase battleships from Great Britain or Germany can hardly make China become a Naval power. What China needs at the moment is to have a crew of well-trained naval officers to man the battleships. Without them, the battleships can easily be captured or go aground. It is impossible to bring all these naval officers to have confidence to manage such complicated and difficult courses in one or two years' time. As for the army, China has a very good background to increase her military ================================================================================ 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 Tiuchau merchant, Ko Mun Wo 93 alias Ko Cho Heung of the Yuen Fat Hong. He was the founder of the firm which established itself in Hong Kong about 1858 and developed an extensive business in the importation of rice from Siam. It soon became one of the wealthiest Chinese firms. In 1881, Ko Mun Wo was the sixteenth highest rate payer, and when he died the year following, the value of his estate was estimated at $163,000. After his death the business was continued by his four sons. Tang Pak Yeung 16 alias Tang Kam Chi was the youngest member of the first Tung Wah Hospital Committee. He was a merchant in the chartering firm of Kwong Lei Yuen. He had received an English language education. He was not a large property owner, nor does his name appear in other lists of the elite. THE COMPRADORES GROUP The compradores were an important new class which arose in the nineteenth century in the port cities of China. A recent study by Yen-p'ing Hao entitled The Comprador in Nineteenth Century China, Bridge between East and West (Cambridge, Mass., 1970) shows how influential this group became in providing capital for the introduction of modern forms of communication, industry, mining, banking and journalism in the late Ch'ing Dynasty. The origin of the compradore system is in the Co-Hong organization through which China channelled all trade with foreigners before the opening of the Treaty ports in 1843. The compradores were recruited from the Canton and Macao area. A large majority of the most influential compradore families were from the Heung Shan District near Macao. When the foreign firms came to Hong Kong they brought with them their compradores. As trade increased on the China coast, the compradores were provided with an opportunity to accumulate considerable capital. This they invested in real estate and in Chinese commercial firms. The late Ch'ing Dynasty was often in financial difficulties. One method of raising income was through the sale of official degrees. The compradores and merchants of the port cities, who formed a newly-created bourgeois nouveau riche group within ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1971 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g The District Watch Committee 137 to be the richest man in Hong Kong. When Ho Tung retired as chief compradore to Jardine, Matheson's in 1900, Ho Fook succeeded him. Ho Fook's assistant was Ho Kom Tong, another of Ho Tung's brothers. The members of the District Watch Committee were members of a small circle of businessmen, often related through ties of blood or marriage. When the Tai Yau Bank was established in 1914 with a paid-up capital of $6,000,000, the proprietors were named as Lau Chu Pak, Ho Fook, Ho Kom Tong, Lo Chung Shiu and Chan Kai Ming. Lau Chu Pak was compradore to A. S. Watson and Co., chairman of the Po On Commercial Association and chairman of the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce; Chan Kai Ming was manager of the Opium Farm; and Lo Chung Shiu, assistant compradore to Jardine, Matheson and Co., was Ho Fook's brother-in-law. All were or became members of the District Watch Committee. 22 T. C. Cheng writes that Wei Yuk 'was very much concerned about law and order among the Chinese masses because in those early days riff-raff and political refugees from South China continued to come into Hong Kong. Thus it was at his suggestion that the District Watch Force was founded in 1888. Mr. Cheng appears to be mistaken about the date and is no doubt referring to the ordinance of that year, no. 13 of 1888 rather than to its proper date of origin. Wright and Cartright, Feldwick, and Professor Woo all state that the Committee was formed on Wei Yuk's suggestion. See: T. C. Cheng, 'Chinese Unofficial Members of the Legislative and Executive Councils of Hong Kong up to 1941', Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. 9, 1969, pp. 17-18; Arnold Wright and H. A. Cartright, Twentieth Century Impressions of Hong Kong, Shanghai and other Treaty Ports, London, Lloyd's Greater Britain Publishing Co., 1908, p. 109; W. Feldwick, ed., Present Day Impressions of the Far East and Prominent Chinese at Home and Abroad, London Globe Encyclopedia Co., 1917, p. 576; Professor Woo Sing Lim, The Prominent Chinese in Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Five Continents Book Company, 1939, p. 4. 23 Unfortunately all the records in the Secretariat for Chinese Affairs were destroyed or lost during the Japanese occupation and hence anyone trying to reconstruct the history of the District Watch must work mostly from scraps of information found in government publications, newspapers, books. 24 My guess is that a large number were traditional Chinese merchants from the Five Districts operating on a relatively small scale. The Committee after 1891 represented the views of a more westernised and modernised elite with a knowledge of modern business techniques and modern financial manipulations. Dr. Ho Kai, for example, played the stock exchange with great success and speculated in many fields, particularly land development. He was, properly speaking, a financier although his occupation is often given tout court as lawyer. He had also qualified in medicine at Edinburgh but gave up the practice of medicine soon after his return to Hong Kong in 1882 because of Chinese resistance to western medicine. 25 In 1903, for example, the Committee opposed the re-introduction of the night-pass system but suggested other remedial measures (see Index to Correspondence (General Register) 1894-1904, Hong Kong, Noronha and Co., 1909, p. 100). In 1909 'at the request of the District Watchmen Committee, children who are hawking without a licence are on their first offence sent to the Registrar General who cautions their guardians. This procedure seems to have proved effective in each case' wrote the Registrar General in 1909. It is worth noting that both Registrar General and Committee wanted to end the night-pass system and were opposed by the Captain Superintendent of Police, who was unsuccessful. As for hawkers, very few Chinese regarded them as a serious menace although colonial administrators ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1971 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g 152 JAMES HAYES in 1859 and spread outwards through the self-governing and other territories of what became the Commonwealth and Empire. It extended to Britain's Eastern Colonies and to the foreign communities of the treaty ports of China and Japan where, from time to time, various alarms and excursions added self-preservation to the list of factors motivating the continuance or periodic resuscitation of volunteer corps. In Hong Kong the Laws of the Colony early provided for their existence as a constitutional force. A succession of Ordinances established volunteers on a proper basis. The earliest of these was No. 2 of 1862, which was repeated with slight variation in No. 18 of 1882. An important re-modelling was carried out by No. 6 of 1893. This was followed by a Volunteer Reserve Ordinance No. 25 of 1910. Both these Ordinances were replaced by a further Volunteer Ordinance No. 2 of 1920, still modelled largely on the important 1893 Ordinance. Volunteer forces were the rule in the various foreign concessions in China, though save in the larger ones local volunteer forces tended to be formed and reformed whenever events seemed to warrant it. For example, the Shameen Defence Corps was formed after a serious riot in 1884 and was reformed from time to time, e.g. in May 1911 due to the unsettled state of affairs in Canton (see Diary of Events and the Progress on Shameen 1859-1938 compiled by H.S.S. and privately printed about 1938, pp. 19-26). The largest of the China volunteer units was, in time, the Shanghai Volunteer Corps. This originated at two public meetings held in April 1853 and its early doings are described in Chapter XXXV of Lanning and Couling's The History of Shanghai, Part I (Shanghai, Kelly & Walsh, 1921). Interesting details of its development are given here and there in Brigadier J. V. Davidson-Houston's Yellow Creek, The Story of Shanghai (London, Putnam, 1962). As in Hong Kong, the passing of the first emergency resulted in the demise of the Corps. "Enthusiasm for the Volunteer Corps sank to a low ebb, members neglected to turn up for training and it was soon practically defunct" (p. 58). The Corps was again raised in August 1860 with the onset of the Taiping rebels, when 107 volunteers came forward for enrolment (p. 65). However, after the successful operations against the rebels the Corps "wilted and died" and was wound up in 1867 to "pay for its debtor's balance by selling its rifles" although the rifle club continued to function (p. 90). The Corps was again formed in 1870 following the Tientsin massacre and continued in being thereafter, its numbers fluctuating between 250-350 for the rest of the 19th century (pp. 92-93). It then continued to grow in size, like the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps, to meet the difficulties of the troubled 1920s and the war with Japan. The number of foreign residents in China is relevant to the size and location of Volunteer Corps. Some figures are given at pp. 292-295 of J. Dyer Ball's Things Chinese or Notes Connected with China, 4th edition, Hongkong, Kelly and Walsh 1903. There were, for instance, 4,424 foreigners in Shanghai (exclusive of those living in the French Settlement) in 1895 and 6774 in 1900. The Hong Kong Census of 1891 listed 10,446 British and foreign residents. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1971 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g 158 JAMES HAYES undoubtedly due to the Volunteer Movement and to the succession of small imperial wars in the last 25 years of the 19th century which popularised the Army, and fed the emotional needs of imperial Britain in the Victorian age. Between 1902 and 1914 it was due to the sobering effect of the Boer War and the growing realisation by many of the need to reform and rearm against a possible European enemy. Soldiers, in short, were in the public eye, and Hong Kong was no exception to the general rule. Here, and in the treaty ports, another factor in the popularity of, and support given to, the volunteer corps was the pool of potential recruits provided by the employees of the major European firms, many of whom had attended public schools in Britain and were well suited by their education and sentiment to play a leading part in the volunteer movement. (b) 1914-41 The 1914-18 War saw many Volunteers go off to the War in Europe, and led to increased duties for the Corps due to the need to employ regular forces on active service elsewhere. Numbers dropped and compulsory service was introduced in 1917.18 In 1920, shortly after the War, a new Volunteer Ordinance was introduced to replace those of 1893 and 1910 which regulated the existing Volunteer Corps and Volunteer Reserve. When introduced into the Legislative Council, it was stated to closely follow the old Ordinance, but with a few changes to meet altered times. The Volunteer Force was now "considered desirable for two reasons for defence against foreign enemies, and also in order to assist the Police and regular forces in case of any serious local disturbances'19 (my italics). We are coming nearer our own times in which the present Regiment was called upon in 1966 and again in 1967 to assist with “duties in aid of the civil power” i.e., internal security. The obligation to serve was also to become more serious. Every Volunteer was to be deemed to have engaged himself to serve for a period of three years and if he left before this without showing good cause he would henceforth have to 18 For the war period see Vol, 1954, pp. 58-67 and Endacott, pp. 284-285. See also the Military Service Ordinance, No. 19 of 1917, 19 Han., 1920, p. 15. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1971 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g HISTORY OF MILITARY VOLUNTEERS IN H.K. 159 pay certain sums into the Corps Funds. These variations to the old Ordinance are important as no fixed period under penalty had been enjoined in it, and no special duties other than active military service had been envisaged for the force. The reasons for these changes must again be sought in the changing nature of the times. The educated youth and the industrial labour of China had entered into a period of unrest and discontent brought about by their country's weakness. China had entered the war as an ally of the Western powers in 1917 but despite this they refused to give up tariff privileges and treaty ports (the European concessions) or to make their other Eastern ally, Japan, relinquish her territorial encroachments on China. The 1920s were a time of growing internal strife in China coupled with increased resentment of the West. Hong Kong was not excluded from the impact of ideological struggle. The Seaman's Strike of 1922 and the General Strike of 1925-26 crippled the port and damaged the economy of the Colony. An emergency situation existed, and thus a fresh impetus was given to the Volunteer Corps whose services were again needed for humdrum but essential work. Colonel H. Owen Hughes recalls being called out for six weeks in 1925, and combining office work by day with duty by night patrolling the streets and guarding hospitals and vulnerable points.20 Whoever decided that a new Ordinance was needed in 1920 was a man of prescience and discernment. Other amendments were made to the Volunteer Ordinance in 1926 and 1927 (No. 15 of 1926 and No. 27 of 1927) in the light of contemporary requirements. By the late thirties hostilities were again threatening in Western Europe and Japan's gradual encroachments in China led to actual war in 1937 and the occupation of Canton the following year. The danger which these events might bring to Hong Kong had already been anticipated. The Corps grew in size during this period and the Year Books between 1934 and 1940 make interesting reading. In the first issues we see that, following the Ordinance of 1933, the Volunteer Defence Corps consisted of one battery of artillery, a machine gun battalion that included three machine gun companies, corps infantry (largely Portuguese) and corps engineers and signals and armoured cars with a reserve company. 20 Vol, 1964, p. 42. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1971 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g 188 REV. JAMES LEGGE the Ta-koo forts; and there were expectations of a second expedition to secure the fulfilment of that treaty. Sir John Bowring left his name in Bowrington, and the Bowring Praya. He was the most learned of our governors, and I had sincerely wished that he might prove himself as mighty in deeds as in words. Sir Hercules Robinson was a different man, as slow to speak as the other was ready, though he could speak well enough when moved. He began his administration under favourable auspices. The treaty of Tëentsin had given a considerable impulse to trade, and soon the concentration in the Colony of the large force for the second expedition to the North produced a great circulation of money, and increased the demand for house accommodation. Building went on rapidly; the value of ground rose immensely; fortunes were realized by many. Most of this, however, was merely a temporary and factitious prosperity, though Sir Hercules seemed to think, as many others did, that it was real, and that tomorrow would be as this day and much more abundant. Many important measures were carried through in his time. In 1860, the Chinese schools, supported by Government throughout the island, were entirely re-arranged, and I may claim to myself the merit of having pressed on successive governors the adoption of the present system, which Sir Hercules was the first to take up heartily, and give effect to. We were very fortunate in obtaining such a master to inaugurate it, and carry it out with untiring devotion, as Mr. Stewart. He has been doing a great work of education with hundreds of pupils, the benefits of which will be increasingly felt by the Colony and by China itself. Sir Hercules adopted another scheme, which I had in vain recommended to one governor and another. My idea from 1844 was that the administration of the Colony would not be thoroughly satisfactory, till many of the offices in it were filled by men having a practical knowledge of the Chinese language, and a sympathy with the people. To secure the former, I advised the bringing out of young gentlemen as student-cadets, hoping that they would gradually acquire the latter also. I venture to think that the idea was sound; and it has not been fruitless by any means. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1972 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gm80qf99h 42 J. L. CRANMER-BYNG Having signed treaties with these countries the best policy is for China to keep the barbarians very strictly to the clauses of these treaties so that outwardly Chinese officials show "sincerity and friendship" while covertly carrying out a "loose rein" (chi-mi) policy. Six regulations are attached for deliberation. These are: 1) Regulations for establishing the Tsungli Yamen. It is envisaged as a temporary body. "As soon as military operations come to an end and affairs concerning the various countries become more simple it will be abolished, and its functions will revert to the Grand Council as before so as to tally with the old system." 2) Separate posts for superintendents of trade for the southern and northern ports be established. 3) Regulations for the collection of revenue at all the newly opened treaty ports. 4) Instructions to be sent to the great officials in each province where foreign affairs are dealt with that they should keep each other informed of what they are doing, so as to produce uniformity of action. 5) The authorities at Canton and Shanghai respectively are to send two persons who understand written and spoken foreign languages to the capital for translation purposes. 6) Monthly reports are to be sent to the Tsungli Yamen on Chinese and foreign trade as well as copies of foreign newspapers, so that the Yamen shall be kept properly informed on matters of trade, and China's situation vis-a-vis the foreign countries. The memorial received the emperor's vermillion endorsement to the effect that Prince Hui and others were to deliberate on it and memorialize. Here follows the memorial and memorandum. We venture to observe that the imperiousness of the barbarian nature burst forth during the reign of Chia-ch'ing. By the time the Treaty of Nanking was exchanged they were acting more arrogantly and in the present year they penetrated right into the capital and acted with outrageous and compelling force, and the barbarian scourge reached its violent climax. Critics citing barbarian calamities in former dynasties as a warning advocate the use of force alone. From of old there has certainly been no other plan than this for warding off the barbarians. However, your servants, in the light of all the circumstances, consider that of the various barbarians the English are tenacious and arrogant, the Russians are treacherous and the French and Americans secretly adhere to them. We observe that before the defeat at Taku we could either use force or resort to pacification, ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1972 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gm80qf99h 48 J. L. CRANMER-BYNG tendent of Trade for the Northern Ports and Superintendent of Trade for the Southern Ports would find some material of use in this section of the six-point memorandum. For instance, it states that at Newchwang, the staple trade commodity is soya-bean cakes, but that this trade is not open to foreign ships. Details of the suggested method of collecting and reporting the customs revenues of this port are then given. At Tengchow, the memorialists state, an illicit foreign trade has been going on for a number of years, unbeknown to the Court. Now that it has officially become a treaty port, officials must be appointed to administer foreign trade there. As regards the five original treaty ports of Canton, Foochow, Amoy, Ningpo, and Shanghai, no changes in the regulations need be made. As regards the newly opened ports of Ch'iungchow, Swatow, Taiwan, and Tamsui, as well as Chenkiang, Kiukiang, and Hankow on the Yangtze, the governors-general and governors in whose jurisdiction these ports lie should jointly memorialize with the imperial commissioner at Shanghai concerning officials to be appointed to take charge of these places. Monthly reports on the volume of foreign trade at these ports are to be sent to the Tsungli Yamen and the Board of Revenue. Suggestions are also made for arrangements to be made for trade with Russia at the newly opened trading places of Urga, Kashgar, and Kalgan. According to the treaties, twenty percent of the duties on foreign trade are to be held for the payment of the indemnity. A counterfoil will be provided so that the total amount of revenue collected can be checked against the amount withheld. The memorialists then return to the point they were making near the beginning of point 3 [as translated above]. Thus, the amount of foreign duty collected each year being clearly shown, the officials through whose hands it passes will be unable to enrich themselves through peculation. Not only will they be deprived of the means of living, they will secretly resort to other malpractices. It is further feared that wily clerks, when they see there is no money to be made, may provoke trouble, thus endangering the public interest. If we do not clearly lay down regulations providing them with expenses for transacting official business, we very much fear that unforeseen malpractices will arise. It is therefore proposed to request that an order be given to the superintendent ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1972 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gm80qf99h 78 HENRY JAMES LETHBRIDGE many Chinese in Weihaiwei, where he was held in great esteem, who will lament the passing of a kindly and sympathetic administrator and a warm-hearted friend,68 Lockhart's training in the Chinese classics, the staple educational fare for all Europeans in the nineteenth century who wished to master Chinese, drew him towards traditional and conservative forces in Chinese society. In Lockhart's time cadets studied, for example, the various publications of James Legge and were expected to understand, and to be able to translate from, Mencius and the Tso Chuan. Lockhart, like R.F. Johnston, did not reject in its entirety the old China that was being transformed slowly in his day. Thus, unlike some European missionaries and merchants, who looked forward eagerly to the breaking-up of China because they expected change would favour their respective interests, Lockhart did not want the China he knew and valued to be changed radically. He believed in a renovated China - a return of the Chinese to their antique virtues and a refurbishing of their institutions. He was not in sympathy with views held by members of the China Association,69 a London repository for Old China Hands such as T.H. Whitehead, and the clubmen of Shanghai and the Treaty Ports. On the other hand, as most of us are, he was a man of his time - a colonial official from a particular stratum of British society, who believed in his mission to govern, but to govern well, those territories of the Middle Kingdom taken over by the British in the nineteenth century. A vigorous man, physically and mentally, Lockhart was attracted by the challenges presented by the administration of newly acquired colonial territories. He enjoyed the power and position conferred by his official status. As Commissioner of Weihaiwei, Lockhart the Scot, was, it is not too absurd to argue, in the role of a Scottish chieftain, the overlord of a rude and hardy peasantry, related to his following through a web of personal relationships. He was a salaried official, but the term 'colonial official' tends to mask the fact that he succeeded in his various tasks not so much because of his rank but because of the enormous sympathy he had for Chinese, because he was a scholar who could establish easy social relationships with members of a very different race. And, to shift the analogy from Scotland, Lockhart's views on governing the Chinese were close to those held by the Confucian Mandarin to establish appropriate ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1972 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gm80qf99h 90 E. G. PRYOR Besides their wider trading interests, the British in Canton had established a thriving trade in opium brought from India. The Chinese government regarded this trade with considerable concern, on the grounds that it was harmful to human welfare and also a serious drain on the country's finances. Early attempts by the Chinese government to stop the opium trade failed but in 1839 a Special Imperial Commissioner was appointed who forced the British traders in Canton to relinquish their supplies of the narcotic. The British Superintendent of Trade, Captain Elliot, consequently withdrew the English merchants to Macau and later transferred them onto ships anchored in Hong Kong harbour; subsequent events led to open hostilities between Chinese and British forces. It was decided by Lord Palmerston, the British Foreign Secretary, that a satisfactory settlement of the dispute would require either a commercial treaty with adequate guarantees to protect the interests of British merchants or the cession of one or more off-shore islands from which the traders could operate without restriction. A British expedition was despatched to China in 1840 to back up these demands and in January 1841 negotiations were held in Canton between Captain Elliot and Keshen, a Manchu Commissioner, whereby it was agreed by the Convention of Chuenpi that Hong Kong Island was to be ceded to the British (Figure 1).* A British naval force took possession of the island on 26th January 1841, The Chuenpi terms were accepted by neither side. Elliot was replaced by Sir Henry Pottinger and hostilities were renewed. The war was concluded by the Treaty of Nanking on 29th August 1842 by which the island of Hong Kong was ceded in perpetuity to the Crown and four additional ports besides Canton were opened to British traders. The island was formally declared a British Colony on 26th June 1843 and Sir Henry Pottinger was appointed the first Governor. Hong Kong was declared a free port and by the Supplementary Treaty of the Bogue the Chinese were given free access to the island for trading purposes. The Housing Problem Takes Root: 1841-1881 Almost from the day Captain Elliot raised the British flag on the northern shores of Hong Kong Island, a steady stream of artisans and labourers made their way to the Colony from the southern provinces. *Figures 1-8 will be found at the rear of the text. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1972 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gm80qf99h H.K.'S CENTRAL MARKET AND THE TARRANT AFFAIR 159 forces during hostilities against China to settle and allotted them small lots on the waterfront. The Upper Bazaar which lay in the area of Graham and Stanley Streets consisted also of relatively small areas granted to Chinese who were presumptively useful to the nascent colony as tradesmen. The Lower Bazaar was almost totally destroyed in the great fire at the end of 1851 and the Upper Bazaar was removed in 1844 and its inhabitants resettled in Taipingshan. 3 See Gordon to Pottinger, 10 February 1844 [CO129/V/f.141]. + Evidence given by Colonel Malcolm to the Parliamentary Select Committee on Commercial Relations with China, answer to question 4633. 5 Davis sought to let as many monopolies go as possible to private individuals for what they were prepared to give. Thus, in addition to the markets, he let out also opium, salt, and quarrying monopolies. 6 Lease Register Volume C, f.94. The lot was leased as Marine Lot 38. The lease registers referred to are the Registers of the Land Office in which all dealings in crown land were recorded. The actual transactions themselves are also recorded separately as 'Memorials' and reference is made to them by number. The numbering was done according to the order in which they were registered. I am indebted to the Registrar General of the Government of Hong Kong for allowing me access to the records of the Land Office and for permission to publish material derived from that source. 7 Memorial 122. 8 Memorial 143. 9 Memorial 258. 10 Friend of China, 7 July 1847. 11 Memorial 383. 12 In this article, the romanisations found in the Land Office records are used even where they do not correspond to those either in the Wade-Giles system or current usage. 13 Memorial 304. 14 Ibid. 15 Memorial 345. 16 Hong Kong Register, 27 July 1847. 17 Friend of China, 14 July 1847. 18 And in so doing, incidentally, infringing the provision of the Treaty of Nanking, 1842, which allowed British subjects to proceed only to the "Treaty Ports" and to nowhere else in China. 19 Friend of China, 14 July 1847. Tam Achoy's market was known as the Kwang Yuen and in the disastrous fire in December 1851, the fifty-one houses which comprised the market were destroyed: see Hong Kong Register, January 1852. Tam was referred to a few years later as the "most respectable Chinaman" who made a practice of going into the witness box to speak for the character of accused persons. He remained in Hong Kong until his death in the 1870's and was one of the founders of the Tung Wah organisation, a charitable body still functioning in Hong Kong. 20 Hong Kong Register, 27 July 1847. 21 Hong Kong Register, 19 October 1847; Friend of China, 23 October 1847 and 18 December 1847. 22 The Editor of the Friend (John Carr) claimed to have seen Hwei's accounts and that they revealed the "squeeze" payment. Page 165 Page 166 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1973 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8910rj06r EARLY STEAMSHIPS IN CHINA A. D. BLUE* In East Asia: The Modern Transformation, Professor J. K. Fairbank writes, "This carrying trade on China's waterways was to prove the Westerners' main point of entry into the Chinese economy, for here the introduction of the steamship could alter the inherited technology" As late as 1880 there was still not a single mile of railway in China, nor a single machine-driven loom or spindle. At that date, however, the three leading steamship companies owned forty-two steamships operating on the various routes on the Canton River, the Lower Yangtse, and between the various treaty ports on the coast. As K. C. Liu points out in his Anglo-American Steamship Rivalry in China, 1862-74, the steamship was not only a technological innovation. It was also a business innovation, because it brought with it new methods of capital organisation and management on a scale hitherto unknown in China. Many Chinese of the scholar-official class also recognised the importance of steamships, and of guns, and—by inference—the political system which made these things possible. From the mid 19th century onwards, memorial after memorial to the Throne emphasised this. Sir Charles Snow was not exaggerating so very much when he wrote that the steam engine helped to shape the modern world as much as Adam Smith or Napoleon. Unfortunately for China, officials closer to the Throne discouraged its occupants from pursuing modernisation. Steam navigation in China began in the south, on the Canton River, and—like so many other aspects of the Western invasion—came by way of India. The first steamship in Asia seems to have been the Nawab of Oude's steam yacht, about which little information has survived. According to Prinsep, this was built at Lucknow in 1819, and equipped with an eight horse-power engine sent out from England, so she must have been very small. She is said to have been capable of seven to eight knots, but when the Nawab tired of her was allowed to go to ruin. Apart from this, the first * Mr. Blue is well-known to readers of the Journal. An engineer officer of the British Merchant Marine since 1928, he has now contributed five articles on Eastern marine subjects. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1974 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077 54 H. J. LETHBRIDGE in André Malraux, Antimémoires. Paris, 1967, pp. 375-473. There is a short biography in Roman d'Amat and R. Limouzin-Lamothe, eds., Dictionnaire de Biographie Française, Paris, 1965. 17 Souvenirs de Cochinchine par Ch. David de Mayréna, Capitaine d'État-Major, Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur... Toulon, J. Laurent, 1871. 18 See Marcel Ner, 'Marie Ier Roi des Sedangs', Bulletin de l'École Française d'Extrême-Orient (Hanoi), Vol. 27, 1927, p. 316. 19 Ibid., p. 333. 20 Ahnaja, Mayréna's consort, died of tuberculosis in late 1888. She had followed Mayréna from Saigon but they were never legally married. 21 There are many studies of Morès, but most are written from a French nationalist point of view: see, for example, Baron Charles de Donos, Morès: Sa vie, sa mort, Paris, 1899; Auguste Pavy, L'Expédition de Morès, Paris 1897; Félicien Pascal, L'Assassinat de Morès, un crime d'État, Paris, 1902; Jules Delahaye, Les Assassins et les vengeurs de Morès, 3 vols., Paris, 1905-1907; Pierre Frondaie, L'Assassinat du marquis de Morès, Paris, 1934. Of great interest are chapters on Morès in Maurice Barrès, Scènes et doctrines du nationalisme, Paris, 1902, and in Georges Bernanos, La Grande peur des bien-pensants, Paris, 1931. For details on the family see Almanach de Gotha, Gotha, 1890, pp. 390-91. Robert F. Byrnes, Antisemitism in Modern France, vol. 1, New Brunswick, NJ., 1950, contains many illuminating insights into Morès' political career. The most modern study is Donald Dresden's The Marquis de Morès: Emperor of the Bad Lands, 1970, which is particularly good on Morès's adventures in the Far West. 22 One of his fellow cadets was Philippe Pétain (1856-1951), who later became the head of the Vichy Government. Another was the saintly Charles de Foucauld (1858-1916), a missionary in the Sahara. 23 His full name is given in the New York Times Obituary Index as Louis A. von Baron Hoffmann. He died in 1909. His daughter's name, Medora, was probably taken from Byron's poem 'The Corsair'. 24 See Russell Reid, 'The De Morès Historical Site', North Dakota Historical Quarterly, vol. 8, 1941, pp. 272-83. In 1963 Louis Vallombrosa, the Marquis' eldest son, presented the château and the surrounding grounds to the State of North Dakota. 25 See Maurice Soulié, Marie Ier, roi des Sédangs, 1888-1890, Paris, 1927, pp. 122-6. Mlle Dahlberg was supposed to be studying Siamese monuments in Bangkok but she was probably in the pay of the Germans who had recently discovered an interest in the region. Her brother was ostensibly a trader at Haiphong but really engaged in the smuggling of contraband goods. 26 A tour of the East was often a risky venture. Many companies went broke and singers and actresses left penniless and hence vulnerable as a consequence. See, for example, Conrad's novel Victory and Somerset Maugham's story 'Flotsam and Jetsam' for fictional but accurate accounts of the lives of distressed European actresses in the East. 27 Robert Fraser-Smith founded the Hong Kong Telegraph in 1881. He was also its editor and publisher until his death in 1895. The paper was edited from 6 Pedder's Hill and Fraser-Smith employed a staff of about four Europeans, usually Scotsmen, as reporters. As J. S. Thomson in The Chinese (London, 1909) writes: "The newspapers of the Treaty Ports are generally set up by the Macaense (sic) and edited by Scotchmen". Fraser-Smith was constantly involved in libel actions and in 1890 was sentenced to six months imprisonment for libelling J. Minhinett, a foreman in the Public Works Department, by suggesting he had committed rape. He did Page 60 Page 61 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1974 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077 102 MICHAEL SMITHIES French, advancing up the Mekong from Saigon, over-anticipating its value as a trade route to China and claiming suzerainty over Annamese vassals, slowly filled. The explorer Mouhot was at Luang Prabang in 1861 and Doudart de Lagrée and Francis Garnier shortly thereafter. The Kha rebellion of 1885 gave the French an excuse for intervention and stopping further extension of Siamese power in Laos; in 1886 a provisional Franco-Siamese convention was signed giving the French the right to establish a vice-consulate at Luang Prabang. The first mission by Pavie to Luang Prabang took place early in 1887, but French expansionism was effectively held in check for three years by the devastation caused by Deo Van Tri and the Black Flags (the Ho 'pirates' operating from Yunnan and Tonkin). Incidents increased between Siam and France and culminated with the French naval demonstration at Bangkok in 1893; the Siamese gave way and ceded the left bank of the Mekong to France. The Franco-Siamese treaty of 1907 gave the right-bank province of Sayaboury and those right bank parts of Champassak to France, but recognised Siamese authority over the rest of the right bank. The present frontiers of Laos were effectively decided by the French, from whom the Lao gained independence in 1949 under King Sisavong Vong. Prince Boun Oum of Champassak having in a secret protocol of 1946 renounced his right to the kingdom. More recent events have been well chronicled and the agreement of the three major political princes of left, right and centre in 1974 to form a joint government offers hope that the troubled post-war history of Laos might enter a more peaceful phase. The buildings in Vientiane then are either restorations or totally modern and, as always in mainland southeast Asia, the monuments of note are almost exclusively religious. The most attractive shrine is the That Luang slightly outside the city. This solid tapering square tower was built in the 16th century by King Settathirat and is said to contain Buddhist relics. It was badly destroyed by the Red Flags in 1873 and its reconstruction was completed in 1929. It is an impressive pile set in a large open square fringed with trees. A vast fair takes place here every November and assumes a national importance. Vat Pra Keo was also built originally by King Settathirat to house the Emerald Buddha on its arrival from Chiengmai; the statue ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1974 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077 THE HONG KONG REGION 109 plexities of local settlement and the absorption of the aboriginal dwellers of the area in the past thousand years. For a general account, readers are referred to the works by Lo Hsiang-lin (1959, 1963), K.M.A. Barnett, (1957, 1967) and the earlier writings of Krone (1859), G.N. Orme (1912) and S.F. Balfour (1941) cited in the references to this article. Introduction* For present purposes the Hong Kong region is defined as the present British Crown Colony of Hong Kong (403.7 square miles)1 and the immediately adjoining parts of Kwangtung province with which there has been intermittent official concern following the establishment of Hong Kong 134 years ago. This takes in the districts round the market town of Sham Chun north of the present Sino-British frontier, occupied by British troops between 16th May and 13th September 18992, and the areas of Mirs and Bias Bays to the east of the Colony that were often visited by British naval forces in their suppression of piracy in local waters during much of the 19th century and well into the 20th3. (See map). At the time the British occupied Hong Kong island in 1841, the whole of this area, less Bias Bay, formed part of the Hsin-an district of the Kuang-chou prefecture of Kwangtung province. The place names and geographical features of the region are shown in many contemporary and earlier Chinese sources, whilst the large scale European map produced in 1866 by Msgr. Volontieri, an Italian missionary of the Propaganda, provides rather more local detail4. In time the British came to occupy a greater part of Hsin-an district. Their occupation of Hong Kong island in January 1841 was converted into possession by the Treaty of Nanking in August 1842. British territory was extended by the lease in perpetuity of Kowloon under a deed dated 20th March 1860 and the cession of the same area by article VI of the Convention of Peking 24th 1 CR1971, p. 204; this figure includes recent reclamations. 2 See Groves, pp. 52-55. 3 For the early period see Fox and Dalrymple Hay. Two expeditions to Bias Bay in March and September 1927 were noted in AR1927, K16: and as late as 1947 piracy in Mirs Bay kept Hong Kong fishermen in port; CR1947, p. 46. 4 The KTTS of 1865 provides more detailed maps of Hsin-an and its adjoining areas than are given in the district and prefectural histories (HNHC and KCFC); see the general chart at pp. 1-2 of the opening volume. For the Volontieri map, which includes Chinese characters, see Ronald C. Y. Ng (1969) pp. 141-148 and Hayes (1970) pp. 193-196. * For the place names of Hong Kong see A Gazetteer of Place Names in Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories, Hong Kong Government Printer, 1960: hereafter styled Gazetteer. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1974 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077 THE HONG KONG REGION 133 Hayes, J. W., 'Old Ways of Life in Kowloon: the Cheung Sha Wan Villages" in Journal of Oriental Studies, Vol. VIII, No. 1, January 1970: 154-188. Ho, Ping-ti, Studies on the Population of China, 1368-1953, Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, 1959. Hsieh, Kuo Ching, 'Removal of Coastal Population in Early Tsing Period', The Chinese Social and Political Science Review, XIII, 1929: 559-596. Hummel, Arthur W. (Editor), Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period (1644-1912), Taipei, Ch'eng Wen Publishing Company, 1967. Reprint of the first edition, Washington, United States Government Printing Office, 2 vols., 1943. Krone, Rev. Mr., A Notice of the Sanon District. C.B.R.A.S. Transactions VI, 1859: 71-105. Reprinted in JHKBRAS 7, 1967: 104-137. Lo, Hsiang-lin, 'The Sung Wang T'ai and the Location of the Travelling Courts by the Sea-shore in the Last Days of the Sung' in Journal of Oriental Studies, Vol. III, No. 2, July 1956. -, (and others), Hong Kong and Its External Communications before 1842. Hong Kong, Institute of Chinese Culture, 1963. An English version, abbreviated, of the Chinese edition of 1959. Mayers, W. F., Dennys, N. B. and King, C., The Treaty Ports of China and Japan. A Complete Guide to the Open Ports of these countries, together with Peking, Yedo, Hong Kong and Macao. London, Trübner & Co., Hong Kong, A. Shortrede & Co., 1867. Murphey, Rhoads, The Treaty Ports and China's Modernization: what went wrong? Michigan Papers in Chinese Studies, No. 7, Ann Arbor, 1970. Montalto de Jesus, C. A., Historic Macao, International Traits in China Old and New. Macao, 2nd edition, revised and enlarged, 1926. Neumann, C. F., Translations from the Chinese and Armenian with Notes: 1 History of the Pirates who infested the China Sea from 1807 to 1810, London, John Murray, 1831. Ng, Peter Y. L., The 1819 Edition of the Hsin-an Hsien-chih, A Critical Examination with Translation and Notes. Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories (1644-1842). Unpublished M. A. thesis, University of Hong Kong, 1961. Ng, Ronald C. Y., 'The San On Map of Mgr. Volontieri. On the Centenary of the Copy in the R.G.S. Collection', London, Geographical Journal, Vol. 135, Part 2, June, 1969: 231-235. Reprinted in JHKBRAS 9, 1969: 141-148. Orme, G. N., Report on the New Territories for the Years 1899 to 1912. in Sessional Papers 1912. Perkins, Dwight H., Agricultural Development in China 1368-1968. Chicago, Aldine Publishing Company, 1969. Potter, Jack M., Capitalism and the Chinese Peasant, Social and Economic Change in a Hong Kong Village. Berkeley and Los Angeles, University of California Press, 1968. Schofield, Walter, Personal Communications, 1958-1968. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1975 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d 96 H. J. LETHBRIDGE and China Gas Company, the Hong Kong Electric Company, the Hong Kong Distillery Company, all needed skilled European labour. The Hong Kong and Whampoa Dock Company employed European foremen, clerks, book-keepers, shipwrights, engineers, boiler-makers, storekeepers, and superintendents. 'Where the eastern seas', J.S. Thomson enthuses, 'bubble up hot to the flame of an equatorial sun, Chinese workmen, with Scotch overseers, turn out six thousand ton steel ships and do battleship repairing worthy of Woolwich or Devonport.' The skilled British mechanic experienced a degree of upward social mobility in Hong Kong: the skilled worker became an overseer, with all the compensations of improved status and salary. 13 Apart from any non-qualified engineers, mechanics and artisans, there were a number of Europeans employed in other low status occupations. We should mention lighthouse keepers, employed by the Harbour Master's Department (later Marine Department), tide-waiters in the Chinese Maritime Customs, whose duty it was to board ships and junks at the various treaty ports, some of whom were domiciled in Hong Kong. They were, like the skippers and engineers of the vessels owned by the Hong Kong, Canton, and Macau Steamboat Company, mostly retired A.B.s from the Royal Navy and non-commissioned officers who had served their time. Lastly, there was a sprinkling of European tailors, hairdressers, milliners, confectioners, bakers, booksellers, printers, photographers, owners of sporting-goods shops, livery stable keepers, and gunsmiths. Most bars and tap-rooms employed Europeans as managers and barmen, though many were not of British nationality. As Macmillan concludes: The bulk of the foreign population is employed in commerce, but the police, revenue, and sanitary staffs, schools, public works, docks, etc., give employment to a large number of overseers and supervisors, mostly engaged direct from home or from military and naval men whose service with the garrison is completed.1 Macmillan, however, forgot to mention the important beachcomber element in the overseer force. 14 European outcastes were mainly prostitutes, nearly all of whom were of working class origin. Many of these women were professionals from the red light districts of San Francisco, Honolulu, Sydney, and Melbourne, who, for one reason or another (usually ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1975 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d 108 H. J. LETHBRIDGE situations. Thus attitudes toward the lower orders were often ambivalent. But a further reason should be advanced: working class Europeans were seen as lowering the prestige of the white man in the East. They were, by definition, poor; they lacked ton and breeding; too often they hobnobbed with—even lived with—Asians; they did not cultivate the unruffled ease and dignity of the Taipan. A journalist asserted: 'there is always an expensive necessity for maintaining foreign prestige. It makes for greater contentment and a good type of resident, and it is good for the Chinese in that it elevates economic standards by example'.33 The key words here are 'foreign prestige'. The European lower orders, it was thought, undermined this sought-after prestige and, by their presence in the East, helped weaken respect for the European merchant in Hong Kong and the Treaty Ports. RELATIONSHIPS WITH THE CHINESE H.E. Maude argues that in the South Seas beachcombers and castaways were emissaries of western culture and that 'the European came to be regarded for more practical reasons—as an economic and political asset';34 for example, he brought with him certain skills, such as the maintenance of small-arms and cannon, valued by the South Sea islander. In Hong Kong the situation differed: the beachcomber (there were no castaways) and other low status Europeans had little expertise to offer the Chinese; for the Cantonese, in particular, were skilled craftsmen in wood, metal, stone, ivory, and other materials. Working class Europeans could neither compete nor enter into competition with Chinese workers, artisans, and craftsmen. Hence, for this and other reasons, no true European proletariat ever established itself, apart from a class of mechanics employed in European-owned enterprises. An obvious factor that inhibited interchange between Chinese and working class Europeans was the problem of language. Very few Europeans could speak colloquial Cantonese in the nineteenth century. This was true of most police, turnkeys, inspectors, and supervisors. Such communication as took place was through the medium of pidgin English, 'an extraordinary jargon', according to Samuel Couling, 'in use between native servants, shopmen, etc., on the one side, and foreigners who do not speak Chinese on the other ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1975 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d 112 10 Ibid., p. 31. H. J. LETHBRIDGE 11 Fifty Years of Progress: The Jubilee of Hongkong as a British Crown Colony, Hong Kong, Daily Press Office, 1891, p. 43. 12 J. S. Thomson, op. cit., p. 8. 13 Ibid., p. 54. 14 Allister Macmillan, ed., Seaports of the Far East, London, 1923, p. 340. 15 Information about Bridget Montague is to be found in contemporary Hong Kong newspapers and the Report on the Contagious Diseases Ordinance (see note 5). 16 Alfred Weatherhead, Life in Hong Kong: 1856-1859. Typescript in the Library of the University of Hong Kong. 17 W. A. Hornaday, Two Years in the Jungle, London, 1885, p. 185. 18 Capt. Gordon Casserly, The Land of the Boxers, London, 1903, p. 193. 19 John Thomson, F.R.G.S., The Straits of Malacca, Indo-China and China, London, 1875, pp. 192-3. 20 J. A. Turner, Kwang Tung or Five Years in South China, London (1894), pp. 108-9. 21 See China Station 1859-1864: The Reminiscences of Walter White, London, National Maritime Museum, Maritime Monographs and Reports, No. 3, 1972. 22 Ibid., p. 27. 23 Major Henry Knollys, English Life in China, London, 1885, pp. 56-7. 24 'Report of the Commission on Alcoholic Liquors', Hong Kong Sessional Papers 1898, p. 1. 25 E. J. Eitel, "Treatment of Paupers in Hong Kong', Hong Kong Government Gazette, 1880, p. 470. 26 Ibid., p. 469. 27 The Kowloon British School was opened in 1902; before that some girls were educated at convent schools in Macau. 28 Marjorie Topley, 'The Role of Savings and Wealth among Hong Kong Chinese', in L. C. Jarvie, ed., Hong Kong: A Society in Transition, London, 1969, p. 193. 29 J. Thomson, op. cit., pp. 203 and 208. 30 L. N. Wheeler, The Foreigner in China, Chicago, 1881, p. 242. 31 Rev. E. J. Hardy, John Chinaman at Home, London, n.d., p. 29. 32 Leon Radzinowicz, Ideology and Crime, London, 1966, p. 38. 33 Allister Macmillan, op. cit., p. 339. 34 Op. cit., p. 151. 35 Samuel Couling, The Encyclopaedia Sinica, Shanghai, 1917, p. 437. 36 W. A. P. Martin, A Cycle of Cathay, New York, 1900, p. 24. 37 L. C. Arlington, Through the Dragon's Eyes, London, 1931, p. 151. 38 H. H. Gerth and C. Wright Mills, eds., From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology, New York, 1958, p. 186. 39 Arnold Wright and H. A. Cartwright, Twentieth Century Impressions of Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Other Treaty Ports of China, London, 1908, p. 341. Page 120 Page 121 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1976 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q LAND AND RIVER ROUTES TO WEST CHINA 165 boats as far as Bhamo, and then partly by land and partly by water into China. Other exports were amber, ivory, precious stones, betel nuts, and edible birds' nests; while in return Burma got raw and wrought silk, velvet, gold leaf, preserves, and chinaware. Similar reports came from other sources. By 1850, the possibility of extending trade from Yunnan into Szechwan was envisaged, and the glowing prospect of an extensive market for British goods in West China became an obsession among many British officials and merchants in Burma and India. Captain McLeod's mission of 1836 is the first official British attempt to find an overland route to China. McLeod went from Moulmein, the port in the newly acquired province of Tenasserim, via Kungtang to Kenghang, a Shan state on the border of China. Here he failed to get permission to enter Yunnan, being told that if the British wanted to trade with China they should go to Canton, and that if he still persisted in wanting to enter Yunnan he would require official permission from Peking. McLeod had to admit defeat, and turned back. After this came a succession of other ventures from Assam and Burma, all—for one reason or another—failures. These culminated in the famous and ill-fated Dual Mission of 1874-75, which led to the Margary Affair.* This was a joint attempt to explore West China from the Burmese and Chinese sides. Previous to this the only important attempts to find a route between Burma and China from the eastern side had been Captain Blakiston's in 1861 and T. T. Cooper's in 1868. The Royal Navy's expedition of 1861 which went up the Yangtze to establish the first treaty ports on the great river—Chinkiang, Kiukiang, and Hankow—continued 153 miles beyond Hankow to Yochow. Here they transferred Blakiston's party to junks in which they continued for another 1050 miles to Pingshan, nearly 1800 miles from the sea and 400 miles above Chungking. It had been intended to follow the Yangtze to its source in Tibet, and then cross the Himalayas into India. Because of unsettled political conditions at Pingshan and beyond, however, they were forced to turn back; but they had obtained valuable information about the Middle and Upper Yangtze. See pp. 169-170 below. Page 180 Page 181 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1976 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q 170 A. D. BLUE days later rumours of an ambush by Chinese and Shan tribesmen led to Margary deciding to go in advance as scout, and he left the main party on 19th February with five Chinese companions. Three days later word came back that he had been murdered at Manwyne, with rumours that 4,000 Chinese troops were on their way to annihilate the whole expedition. Before Browne had time to recover from this blow, the camp was attacked by an advance guard of the Chinese force, but was beaten off by the Sikh and Burmese soldiers. Next day confirmation of Margary's murder came from the King of Burma's commercial agent at Bhamo, and on 20th February Browne's whole expedition retraced its steps to Mandalay and Rangoon. Margary's murder, and deteriorating relations between the British and the King of Burma, prevented further expeditions from Burma; but ironically led to further progress on the Yangtze, Sir Thomas Wade, British Minister at Peking, took advantage of the Chinese government's failure to protect Margary to press for further trade relaxations, and the result was the Chefoo Convention of 1876 between Wade and Viceroy Li Hung-chang. This provided for the opening of five more ports to foreign trade, and of the 400 miles of the Middle Yangtze to foreign shipping. Among the new treaty ports was Ichang, located at the upper end of the Middle Yangtze and 400 miles below Chungking, the main port of Szechwan. When the Convention was ratified in 1885, a supplementary clause provided for Chungking to become a treaty port; but not for free navigation on the 400 miles of the Upper Yangtze between Ichang and Chungking. This was granted after the Treaty of Shimonoseki between China and Japan on the conclusion of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-95. More than ten years before this, however, the remarkable Archibald Little had appeared on the Yangtze scene. Little began his career as a tea taster in Kiukiang in 1859, but soon started up business on his own. He was attracted to the possibilities of trade in Szechwan and West China, and fascinated by the problems posed by steam navigation through the famous gorges of the Upper Yangtze. He made a trip by junk from Ichang to Chungking in 1883 to investigate trade and navigational prospects, and in 1887 attempted to run a steamer service between Ichang and Chungking, by the Kuling. This was a Clyde built stern-wheeler of 450 tons ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1976 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q LAND AND RIVER ROUTES TO WEST CHINA 177 Although British commercial shipping operations on the Yangtze and on the China coast came to an end in 1940, the official death knell came in 1943. On the 11th January of that year China concluded new treaties, on a basis of equality and reciprocity, with Britain and the United States. This ended the period of the 'Unequal Treaties', the 'treaty port' era which had started with the 1842 Treaty of Nanking between Britain and China. Not only British shipping in Chinese waters, but significant British and Western influence in China on the former pattern came to an end with the treaties of 1943. Looking back, and with some measure of hindsight, it is evident that there was no solid commercial basis for West China providing an expanding market for British industry during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. All the Western countries concerned with the China trade failed to appreciate the self-sufficiency and poverty of China's predominantly peasant population. Although Szechwan was considered a prosperous province, neighbouring Yunnan was sparsely populated and poverty-stricken, and much of its reputed mineral wealth was nearing exhaustion when Europeans first heard of it. As on the coast, and on the Lower Yangtze, the success of British shipping depended on established domestic trades, some of which it stimulated further. Two economic activities which expanded greatly on the Upper Yangtze during the latter years of the treaty port era were the Chinese passenger trade between the treaty ports, and the import of kerosene; while an important export from Szechwan was tung oil, a valuable wood oil used in the manufacture of high-quality paints and varnishes. The motives of the British effort to open up West China to British trade may be questioned by some today; but the courage, determination, and ingenuity displayed by British merchants and sailors are still worthy of admiration. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1976 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q 178 A. D. BLUE BIBLIOGRAPHY Parliamentary Papers — Reports from the British Consuls at the Treaty Ports of China (various dates) Unpublished Theses for Degree of Master of Arts at London University a) British Interests in Trans-Burma Trade Route to China 1826-76 by MA THAUNG 1956 b) Anglo-Chinese Relations in the Provinces of the West River and the Yangtze River Basin between 1889-1900 by L. R. MARCHANT, 1965 Five Months on the Yangtze T. W. BLAKISTON The Royal Navy and the Sino-Japanese Incident M. BRYCE China in Turmoil G. H. GOMPERTZ The Irrawaddy Flotilla Company M. J. GRUBB and G. L. D. DUCKWORTH Gleanings from Fifty Years in China A. LITTLE The Yangtze Gorges A. LITTLE River Road to China Glimpses of the Yangtze Gorges To the Snows of Tibet through China Yangtze Reminiscences The Making of Modern Burma D. WOODMAN Special Mission up the Yangtze Kiang R. SWINHOE M. OSBORNE C. PLANT A. E. PRATT G. R. TORRIBLE ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1977 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n 66 J. T. KAMM Finally, a word on economic development. Equilibrium in the tenancy system in no way implied stagnation in the economy. We have already noted the benefits which tenants derived by extending the surface value. The clans, restricted in the amount of rent-value collected, expanded economically into two areas, regulation of trade and monopolization of tax collection. It was at the level of periodic marketing that the landlord clans "reasserted control” over the tenants' surplus; moreover, the landlords were able to extract increasingly large amounts of revenue, as taxes, while both trade and agricultural production increased. In this way, perpetual tenancy gave impetus to the rise of taxlordism, which we shall consider in the next essay. NOTES 1 Hugh Baker, Sheung Shui, A Chinese Lineage Village, p 8. 2 See, for instance, the Kwang Tung Nung Yeh Kai-K’uang Tiao-ch'a-pao-kao Shu Hsuan-pien (*), Vol. I, p 185. 3 Hung ch'i represented officially recognized ownership of land. Pai ch'i (é) denoted unregistered ownership, mortgage, and the like. Tenants might possess pai ch'i, or they might not. 4 It is very difficult to give a realistic estimate of the amount of land worked by tenants in the early nineteenth century. Existing records (including Government CSO reports, sessional papers and cadastral surveys) suggest a very high degree of tenancy. A survey taken by Potter in 1960 indicates a tenancy rate of 83% in Ping Shan (); this coincides with my observations in Kam Tin. 5 Extension of the Boundaries of the Colony, p 52. 6 In the first tally of cultivated land conducted at the beginning of the Ch'ing Dynasty, 4039.567656 mow of land were liable to the payment of taxes. By 1819, this amount had shrunk to a total of 3815.94836965 mow. (Hsin-An Hsien-chih, ch'uan 8). Lockhart, in the Extension papers, writes of the land registers: "The land registers of the district, which ought to be a reliable guide, are worse than useless, as they contain not more than half of the land under cultivation." (p.48). 7 See Tung-Kuan Hsien-chih (*), ch'uan 39, for an account of the problems raised by this situation. In the early years of British administration, officers were often informed by cultivators that plots of 3rd class land (see below) were exempt from tax in certain areas. 8 Kwang-chow Fu-chih ( ), ch'uan 4:46b-47a. 9 Hsin-An Hsien-chih, ch'uan 2. 10 James Hayes, "Old British Kowloon", Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society Vol. 6, 1966, gives some data on Kowloon. The Hakka Tangs of Pat Heung apparently arrived in the neighborhood of Kam Tin during the migration years. 11 Wan Lo, “Communal Strife in Mid-19th Century Kwangtung” Papers on China from the Regional Studies Seminar, p 93. See also N.B. Dennys (ed), The Treaty Ports of China and Japan (1867), pp 20-22. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1978 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8g84t8593 THE LIBRARY OF THE HONG KONG BRANCH ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY REPORT FOR THE YEAR 1977-1978 At long last the ambition of having our library in one accessible location has been achieved: the books previously kept at the Public Records Office and the bound volumes of periodicals kept at the University of Hong Kong were moved to the Library of the Arts Centre just before Christmas, and the collection was ready for use at the beginning of the New Year. Revised regulations, mainly reflecting the change of location, were approved by the Council on 16th November, 1977. It is hoped that the comfortable surroundings and longer hours of opening will encourage members to make greater use of this facility. The collection has continued to grow at a satisfactory rate. The three sources of accessions are gifts, purchases, and exchange of publications with other societies and institutions. In the first category, special mention must be made of the generous donation by Mr. Stephen S. F. Hui of the following three important volumes: The Chater Collection: pictures relating to China, Hong Kong, Macao, 1655-1860... by James Orange. London, 1924. Present day impressions of the Far East... Editor-in-chief: W. Feldwick. London, 1917. Twentieth century impressions of Hongkong, Shanghai and other treaty ports of China... Editor-in-chief: Arnold Wright. London, 1908. After these have been rebound and catalogued, they will be available for consultation. Dr. J. W. Hayes has also kindly continued to donate books, and we are grateful to have received a copy of McClure's Migration and survival of the birds of Asia from Mr. F.O.P. Hechtel. Over 30 volumes have been purchased during the year, many being older books on the Far East which are becoming increasingly difficult to find at reasonable prices. The number of bound volumes of periodicals has also grown. At the time of the move to the Arts... ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1980 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207 56 LEWIS M. CHERE events of 1884. In this category would be Chinese language newspapers, the records of the court proceedings against the native newspapers and rioters, and whatever private records, diaries or papers which might have survived from that time. Because these materials are not available outside Hong Kong it is the purpose of this article to raise the question of what did happen in the Colony in 1884 in the hopes that those scholars who do have access to the winds of materials necessary to answer the question will be made aware of the importance of having those answers. Because a study of the question cannot help but advance understanding of Chinese history in the 1880's—not to mention the illumination it could provide for the history of Hong Kong itself—I have attempted to provide an outline here of what the question entails, and what little is known about it. Hong Kong occupied a position in the events of the Sino-French War which was unique even for the ports of the China Coast. Unlike Treaty Ports such as Canton or Shanghai, Hong Kong was not even technically Chinese territory. Though Shanghai may have been effectively controlled by the representatives of the foreign community sitting on the city council, the city was still Chinese territory and the problems it experienced during the Sino-French War were largely due to that fact. Hong Kong was formally a possession of a neutral power. As such, most of its problems arising from the war were those which resulted from differing French, Chinese and British positions on the obligations of a neutral in an undeclared war. However, Hong Kong's overwhelming majority of Chinese residents, most of them adult male workers whose families were still living in their home villages in the Southern Provinces of China, presented a problem even more complex than those arising from the city's neutrality. The reactions of those Chinese residents to the Sino-French conflict could be vital to an understanding of the development of nationalism in China. In Hong Kong the legendary influence of anti-foreign mandarins, which was so frequently blamed for anti-foreign feeling among the Chinese populations in the Treaty Ports, could only be indirectly applied—if at all. Even then many of the European accounts of what happened in the Colony in 1884 attempted to find outside influences, meaning the mandarins, to hold responsible for Hong Kong's troubles. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1982 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p 124 H. J. LETHBRIDGE that destitute or disreputable Chinese were shipped back to their homeland without expense to the British taxpayer. All in all, a model citizen of his adopted country. One surmises that Lock settled down in England in 1895 without experiencing an acute degree of cultural ‘dislocation'; it was after all his elected country and must have appeared a land of opportunity to the young Cantonese. But he remained Chinese, enmeshed in the themes of Chinese society and culture — a migrant, a marginal man. Since wealth and status are closely linked in Chinese society, particularly so in overseas Chinese communities which then lacked a Chinese scholar class, once his fortune disappeared as a result of injudicious speculation, he must have experienced a shameful loss of 'face', a loss of standing within the Chinese Liverpool community. His bankruptcy was temporarily masked by maintaining a high degree of conspicuous consumption (how did he do it?). Lock was 52 in 1925, and to recoup his finances would have been difficult at that time, when the British economy was listing and shipping trade with China interrupted by the great strike and boycott of Hong Kong and the Treaty Ports. It is plausible to suggest, then, that Lock felt disgraced, ashamed of what the future might bring his wife and three grown-up children, victims of his middle-aged ineptitude, or bad luck. It is possible to point to a number of English, let alone Chinese murders, motivated by the same impulse: fear of the future.19 All this is speculation, need it be said. The writer has not seen the transcript of the trial — has it survived? — and Lock's case is not included in the eighty-three volumes of the Notable British Trials Series.20 It seems sensible, though, to argue that Lock's friends, all those giving evidence for the defence, would tend to over-emphasise his bouts of ill-temper and any episodes which might suggest he was mentally sick. This type of retrospective interpretation or evaluation is common in many murder trials. We do not know what precisely triggered off Lock's murderous assault in the early hours of December 2, 1925. Did some chance remark made by his wife drive him into a frenzy? Did she, perhaps unwittingly, make him aware of the shame he had brought upon his family — did she awaken the tiger? That, ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1982 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p 288 NOTES AND QUERIES The reply from the Secretary of State, Lord Salisbury, was, “I approve your proceedings" (F.O.228, v.605, p.237, dated Dec. 9, 1878). The letter from the Foreign Office to Mr. Herton which he referred to in his letter to Mr. Keswick has not been traced in F.O.228. Perhaps he would have been less pleased with Foreign Office action if he had been aware of the above exchange. Nothing further appears to have happened until 24th July 1879, when Sir Thomas Wade, who as H.M. Minister in Peking had meanwhile taken over from Chargé d'Affaires Fraser, wrote to Mr. Scott enclosing a memorandum on the Herton claim (F.O.228, v.630, p.101-2), and instructing him to inform the Superintendent of Customs at Kiungchow that the firm's claim for $909.57 was supported, and that the attention of the Chinese authorities in Canton had been directed to the case. It is not entirely clear whether this was before or after Scott's letter of 3rd July, enclosing one from Herton of 2nd July to Sir Thomas Wade (F.O.228, v.630, p.134-6), had reached Peking, though the latter are filed later. Herton claimed that, because of his "unfair treatment at the hands of the Authorities" his business had been "entirely crippled", and he was "now in most pressing need of the money," In accordance with Sir Thomas Wade's instructions, Scott wrote on 22nd August 1879 to the Customs, claiming $909.57, and rehearsing the whole affair on the lines of Wade's memorandum (F.O.228, v.630, p.165-7). No reply of substance was received until November, when, on the instructions of the Governor General of the two Kwangs, the old argument was reiterated, that no instructions for issue of transit passes were drawn up until January 1879 and as Herton had made his journeys in 1877 the duties paid were legally charged (F.O.228, v.630, p.174-5). In reply, Scott referred Acting Taotai Liu to the Treaty of Tientsin, art. XXVIII (see note 3 below), and pointed out that transit passes had been obtainable at Shanghai and other open ports for many years. He continued, "Are the Canton Authorities then alone to be free to carry out their individual opinions under pretext of drawing up rules, refuse to issue passes and levy any dues they please in opposition to Treaty rights?" In ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1982 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p 294 G NOTES AND QUERIES In 1884 Brenan was H.B.M. Consul at Chefoo. His position in 1880 is not clear from papers to hand, but he appears to have been making official visits to various places on the China Coast. * China, Imperial Maritime Customs, Reports on trade at the treaty ports for the year 1879. Shanghai, 1880, p. 246, Ibid., p. 247. It was on behalf of one of Thomas Piry's grandsons that this volume of the trade reports was consulted, leading to the discovery of the two letters to W. Keswick. & Ibid., p. 246. THE VILLAGE WATCH IN THE HONG KONG REGION Before 1899 most New Territories villages of any size had watchmen or constables employed by the elders to enforce local rules, and in the bigger villages these may have had permanent employment. Lockhart wrote of “kang fu (kaang foo) or village constables, who are appointed by the village, and paid out of contributions made by the villagers according to the extent of their holdings in land". He continued, "Their duty is to keep watch, especially at night. They have the power to arrest, which is deputed to them by the gentry and elders of the village". Writing four years after the transfer of the New Territories, another official, F. H. May, added a qualification: "The so called Police really only village watchmen formerly and still in some instances employed by the villagers were only responsible for prevention of larcenies between villagers. They were not held responsible for robberies by outsiders which were supposed to be beyond their power to prevent".2 The village watch was still a feature of the local security arrangements in the 1960s. Baker gives an account of it in the Sheung Shui villages of the northern New Territories in the 1960s, whilst Watson mentions it in his book on the Man lineage of San Tin, in an adjoining area. My own notes, which follow, made at Nga Tsin Wai, the last surviving village of central Kowloon, in the mid 1960s also offer some information on the subject. Before and after 1899, this old walled village* had an office there was no wall as such, but the houses all faced inward, giving the same effect as an enclosure. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1983 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v 134 Board (in manuscript), p. 121 kept in the Public Records Office, Hong Kong as Hong Kong Record Series 206. Pages 120-141 of the Proceedings relate to a hearing held on 6th June 1893, "Claim to a Temple at Apleichau". 10 The same man also said that Ap Lei Chau 'was built about 1850' (ibid, p. 122). However, as stated in my text, the Hung Shing temple on the island appears to date from the 18th century and another local resident (b. 1825) who gave evidence to the Squatter Board (ibid, p. 132) said that it was enlarged in 1847. The temple originally stood on its own little island, later joined by reclamation to Ap Lei Chau. See JHKBRAS 7 (1967) p. 170, footnote. 11 W.F. Mayers, N.B. Dennys and C. King - The Treaty Ports of China and Japan (London, Trubner & Co., 1867) p. 49. 'Boat building and general trade' are listed as the principal concerns. The "Ap-le-chow" and "Shek pai wan" (Aberdeen) entries in this work are bracketed. The latter had 160 houses and 205 boats and the total recorded population for the two places, together with the boat people, was 1,664. See also information given in the printed proceedings of a court case over ownership of land on Ap Lei Chau given in Sessional Papers August 1886 - September 1887" (Appendix to Report from the Land Commission of 1886-87) pp. 33-35. 1* See the Hong Kong Government's printed Sessional Papers for 1897 and 1911, pp. 484 and 103 (23) respectively. 1 Sessional Papers 1901, No. 39 of 1901. pp. (6), (18) and (20). Of the 947 vessels, 787 were fishing boats. At that time, there were 2,799 land persons living in and round Aberdeen-Ap Lei Chau. 11 Sessional Papers 1897 and 1911 at pp. quoted at note 12 above. For similar organizations of M. Freedman's article "Immigrants and Associations: Chinese in Nineteenth-century Singapore", Comparative Studies in Society and History, III (1960-61), 25-48; and for other coastal market centres in the Hong Kong region, Hayes 1977, chapters 2 and 3 dealing with Cheung Chau and Tai O respectively. 10 See the account given in the printed Ap Lei Chau Hung Shing Festival brochure for year (1983) now in Hong Kong Collection, University of Hong Kong Library, 10 Squatter Board proceedings, p. 138. The word "Kaifong" (#) or street association was commonly used in South China to describe (a) all the inhabitants of an area (b) the voluntary organization of leading residents which managed the affairs of that community, e.g. the Kaifeng looked after the interests of all kaifongs. On Ap Lei Chau, the Kaifong and the Fongs' leaders seem to have been one and the same. For Kaifongs in the Hong Kong region see Hayes 1977, pp. 64-69, 81-84, 96-98, 171-172 and 218 note 27. Also, Hayes 1983, pp. 45-46 and 56-59. 18 For divining blocks, see J.J.M. De Groot, The Religious System of China (Ch'ing Wen reprint, Taipei 1976) Vol. VI, pp. 1285-1287. 1o See Hayes 1977, p. 219, note 41, for similar honours paid to leading office bearers reported from Canton (1902). * The shopkeeper petitioners who came to see the Registrar General in 1893, as recorded in the Squatter Board proceedings, stated that "The temple is the property of the inhabitants of Ap Lei Chau and the boatpeople who subscribe”. The Ap Lei Chau section of this article is based mainly on the oral statements of Messrs. CHENG Kam-kwu ($##) b. 12.10.1887, CHENG Lim () b. 17.12.1891 and LUN Shing-fun () b. ... ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1983 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v 141 sophisticated view of the Hong Kong government as practising ‘macroeconomic laissez-faire and microeconomic intervention’, see Glassburner and Riedel 1972). This type of economic jungle had once existed in Chinese coastal cities. In Fei Xiao-tong’s view, the ‘morally unstable’ elements in Chinese society had congregated in these cities to become the early Chinese bourgeoisie (1946: 14-15): to such ports a special type of Chinese was attracted. They are known as Compradors... They are unscrupulous, pecuniary, individualistic, and agnostic, not only in religion but cultural values. Treaty ports are ultraurban. They are a land where the acquisition of wealth is the sole motive, devoid of tradition and culture As their children grow up, they give them modern education and send them abroad to attend Western universities. From this group a new class is formed But, being reared in a cosmopolitan community, they are fundamentally hybrids. In them are manifest the comprador characteristic of social irresponsibility.” Some of the offspring of this bourgeoisie had migrated to Hong Kong in the 1940s and set up a new textile industry. Their moral rectitude had apparently not been strengthened. Oksenberg finds the industrialists in the cotton spinning and weaving industries to be ‘not civic minded men’ but men motivated by ‘unbridled avarice’, (1972: 6). Two hypotheses about the social ethics of Hong Kong’s cotton spinning industrialists have thus emerged. First, proportionally fewer of them would subscribe to the doctrine of social responsibility than their Western counterparts. Second, they were mostly economic men of the classical laissez-faire mould. In order to test these hypotheses, I used a modified version of the forced choice questionnaire developed by Nichols (1969: 254-255). Nichols assumes the existence of three ideological positions with reference to the social ethics of business. Other than the social responsibility and laissez-faire positions, he posits a third orientation that justifies business decisions in terms of the long range interests of the company. He chooses four areas of concern: redundancy provisions for workers; the social I ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1983 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v 197 From 1860 there is, firstly, a collection of China Medals and related items and eight drawings by a Royal Marines Light Infantry officer who served in the Second China War. There is also a vase and a gilded, seated, Buddha which were taken from the Summer Palace in that year. The Marines were involved in the fighting occasioned by the Boxer uprising in 1900, and the Museum holds a number of relics of this involvement. A Boxer flag is, for instance, on display. This was captured by Sgt. Preston, Royal Marines Light Infantry, on the walls of Peking on July 14, 1900, an act for which he was awarded the Conspicuous Gallantry Medal. The notes explain that Preston kept the Boxers at bay while an American Marine seized the flag. A Victoria Cross was won at about the same date which is commemorated by the display of a large pike. This was captured by the RMLI detachment during the siege of the Legations. Captain L.S.T. Holliday led a sortie during which he had half a lung shot away. He later became Adjutant General of the Royal Marines and when he died in 1966 at the age of 95 he was the oldest holder of the VC. A squat, gape-mouthed, mortar about two feet high is also on show. This was seized at the capture of the Taku forts in 1900. A large brass shell case used by the Quick Firing guns at the Taku Forts is mounted in the museum as a gong. The case has the name Berndorfer stamped upon it, an Austrian firm. Next came a quick visit to the National Army Museum, in Chelsea, London. Among the items which I spotted there were the following, and I am sure there must be others which I missed. There is a large, full-length, portrait of Sir Hugh Gough, by an unknown artist. He is shown with what looks to be an Indian servant buckling on his sword and is impressively bemedalled. A tall, slim, figure, with a white moustache, the General was in his fifties or sixties when the picture was painted. A silver model pagoda commemorating the Treaty of Nanking, August 1860, is on loan from the present Viscount Gough. It was made by Richard Hennell and is hallmarked London 1860-61. A long rampart gingall, manufactured at South Tientsin Arsenal in 1895 slants diagonally across a case which also features ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 138 JAMES HAYES 37 CO 129/99, Despatch No. 115 of 28 July 1864. 38 Ibid. The report, by Lieutenant Adams, R.N., dated ‘Woodcock’, Hong Kong, 28 June 1864, is at pp. 37-45. 39 Reports on the Past and Present State of Her Majesty's Colonial Possessions (hereafter Blue Book) 1845, No. 38 Hong Kong, p. 149. 40 Blue Book for 1847, No. 36 Hong Kong, p. 308. 41 e.g. W.F. Mayers, N.B. Dennys and C. King, The Treaty Ports of China and Japan. (London, Trubner and Co., 1867), p. 108, for two very bad piracies there. 42 Harbour Master's Report for 1887 in Sessional Papers (Papers laid before the Legislative Council of Hong Kong) September 1887-December 1888, p. 258. 43 Blue Book for 1845, No. 38 Hong Kong, p. 151. 44 **科大蘭,陳鴻基,吳倫霓霞, 合品 香港碑銘彙編 p. 98 (D. Faure, B. Luk, A. Ng The Historical Inscriptions of Hong Kong (Hong Kong Urban Council 1986) p. 98-101, 75-78. 45 Public Record Office, London: CO129/12/9757, para 12. 46 E.J. Eitel Europe in China op. cit. p. 132. 47 J.W. Hayes The Hong Kong Region op. cit. p.62, (and see also p. 27, n. 11). 48 Unpublished Temple Directory, The Temples Unit, Home Affairs Dept. H.K. Government, 1980, p. 17. 49 Mayers, Dennys and King, op cit, p. 2. Sin Ngan (#) variously romanized herein as San-on, Sun-on and Hsin-an was the county to which Hong Kong Island belonged in 1841. Tungkwan ( ) otherwise Tung-Kwun was the older, larger county from which it was created in 1573. For Hsin-an see Peter Y.L. Ng, prepared for press and with additional material by Hugh D.R. Baker, New Peace County, A Chinese Gazetteer of the Hong Kong Region (Hong Kong, Hong Kong University Press, 1983). 50 Mayers, Dennys and King, op. cit. p.3 51 52 53 Friend of China, 24 July 1858 (courtesy of Revd. Carl T. Smith), Ibid. See J.W. Hayes The Hong Kong Region op. cit. pp. 46-53. See also J.W. Hayes, The Rural Communities of Hong Kong, Studies and Themes (Hong Kong, Oxford University Press, 1983) pp 9-10. 54 Petition dated 8th day of 4th lunar month, Tao Kuang, 21st year, i.e. 28th May 1841, to the District Magistrate of Hsin-an. This and other quoted papers belong to the Tang family of Kam Tin, New Territories. I am grateful to the District Officer, Yuen Long and Mr. J.T. Kamm for the translations that appear here. They have been checked against the originals by my friend Dr. Anthony K.K. Siu. Kwan Tai Lo was a village near the foot of the present Leighton Hill. 55 Copy of an undated instruction to a presumably subordinate office following the above. 56 Petition dated 28th day of 5th lunar month, Tao Kuang 23rd year i.e. 25th June 1843. 57 Undated reply to the petitioners, presumably from the District Magistrate, following receipt of the foregoing petition. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 209 ed April 15, 1865. In the biographies roman figures, as above, will be used to distin-guish these committees. 2. Social Committees Despite the pressure of work during part of the year and in spite also of some claims that the treaty ports were a social and cultural desert, Shanghai could boast a fair number of clubs and charitable institutions. Below I give some elementary details about those that crop up more than once in the biographies. a. British Episcopal Church The official Anglican Church was very early established in Shang-hai; in 1847 the first Trinity Church was built, to be replaced by a new one in 1866-1869. b. Chinese Hospital Founded in 1846 by the London Missionary Society with non-mission funds; trustees supervised the activities of the hospital, which was for Chinese only. c. North China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (NCBRAS) Originated in 1857 as the Shanghai Literary and Scientific Society, renamed the NCBRAS in 1859, temporarily suspended in 1861 to be resuscitated in 1864. d. Recreation Fund A fund that was formed in 1863 through the sale of the ground within the second racecourse (to the east of the new one at Bub-bing Well Road). In order to administer this fund a committee was formed. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 225 Adv. NCH 7.1.1854; according to Griffin, o.c., p. 306, n. 6 partner 1850-1859. 64 65 Adv. NCH 27.1.1855, 7.1.1860. 66 C.J. Dudgeon "The Battle of Muddy Flat" in United Empire, June 1914, p. 480; NCH 8.4.1854 only “Mr. Gray". 67 F.L. Hawks Pott: "A Short History of Shanghai”, (1928), fac. p. 81. 68 CR Jan. 1847. 69 NCH 3.8.1850; SA 1853, 1854, 1855. 70 Adv. NCH 24.4.1858. 71 Adv. NCH 20.11.1858. T2 Adv. NCH 12.1.1861. 73 Adv. NCH 7.1.1860; Griffin, o.c., p. 306, n. 6: till 1866. 74 Notification 6.4.1865; in NCH 15.4.1865. 75 CR Jan. 1844. 76 CR Jan. 1846, Jan. 1848. 77 CR Jan. 1849. Griffin, o.c., p. 306, n. 6; NCH 27.1.1855. 79 Adv, NCH 20.11.1858. 80 Adv. NCH 12.1.1861. 81 NCH 18.8.1860. 12 Obituary by Henri Cordier in T'oung Pao, Vol. VII (1907), p. 123-124. Adv. NCH 3.10.1857. 14 Adv. NCH 1.1.1859. 05 Maybon & Fredet, o.c., p. 289. 16 Ibid., p. 445. 17 JNCBRAS, Vol. 1 (1865), p. 146. 18 Cordier, Letter, (see n. 32) p. xvi and obituary (see note 82). 49 For Hanbury School see e.g. A. Wright: “Twentieth Century Impressions of Hong Kong, Shanghai and other Treaty Ports of China” (1908), p. 489. 90 BS IV, 2557. 91 Lockwood, o.c., p. S. 92 Adv. NCH 7.6.1862. 93 Adv. NCH 5.1.1856; see also Wright, o.c., p. 612. 94 NCH 31.12.1864, 8.7.1865. 95 NCH 3.8.1850. 96 Adv. NCH 5.8.1854. 97 Adv, NCH 19.1.1861. ** NCH 21.11.1863, 31.12.1863. 99 CR Jan. 1847. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1985 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gt54s866x 154 WEI PEH TI teachers and preachers in China. Jane Hunter, in her research on women missionaries of that era, found that women who went to China under the auspices of one of the forty-one American women's missionary boards had come from humbler background than those heading for the settlement houses at home." Perhaps that was why Edith had joined the China Inland Mission founded by an Englishman instead of a local Baptist mission. Philadelphia, despite being the seat of the Continental Congress that renounced king and country in 1776, had retained the British mystique. Perhaps it was this snobbish preference for things British that led Edith to the China Inland Mission, which, by that time, had established a recruitment centre in the United States. Apparently both Edith and Louese had toyed with the idea of becoming missionaries while at school. In one of the letters, Edith asked Louese, “Do you remember your desire to be a missionary? Can't you spare one of these darlings (Louese's children) and consecrate one for Foreign Service?” J. Hudson Taylor, who had worked in China under the China Evangelization Society during the 1850s, had become concerned that Protestant missionaries were more interested in establishing hospitals and introducing educational and social changes than in spreading the Gospel. He organized the China Inland Mission in London and brought the first group of twenty-four men and women missionaries under its auspices to China in 1866. As the name indicates, work of this organization was to be concentrated in the interior provinces, away from the treaty ports. The centre of the mission was located at Shanghai, with stations in the capital of each province and sub-stations in various towns. Despite hostilities shown by the local populace during the last decades of the nineteenth century and ravages on the missionaries and Chinese Christians during the Boxer Rebellion, the work of the China Inland Mission continued. By the time Edith arrived at Taiho in March 1903, a sub-station of the Anhui Mission at Wuhu, work in the vicinity had already begun. In 1905, there were 828 missionaries working in China under the umbrella of the China Inland Mission." Taiho was a market town at the juncture of the Sha and the Ying Rivers in the northwestern corner of Anhui. Even the most ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1986 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063 157 Hongkong. In November 1842, the Morrison Education Society School had moved over from Macau. After some months it occupied its newly built quarters on what became known as Morrison Hill. The society had been organised after Dr. Robert Morrison's death by the merchants of Canton to honour his memory. Recognising his intense interest in education for the Chinese, the society was devoted to this purpose. Dr. Legge welcomed the idea of a merger with the Morrison Education Society School. He realised that he would not be able to bring many students to Hongkong from Malacca, that it would be costly to build a school building and that its administration would make a heavy demand on his time. The London Missionary Society held a conference in Hongkong in August 1843, to discuss strategy now that Hongkong and six ports in China were open to foreign residence. Among the topics discussed was the future of the Anglo Chinese College. There were a variety of opinions expressed. Some wished to turn it into a theological school to train church workers, thus abandoning the liberal and open policy laid down by Dr. Morrison. An article in the Colonial Gazette advocated the reorganisation of the school on broad principles, suggesting it should provide instruction “in the useful and ornamental arts, the sciences, and above all medicine.” Some of the missionaries thought the best location for the school would be on Chinese soil. If the school was at a Treaty Port, there would be a better class from which to draw students. There would also be a more abundant supply of qualified scholars to teach Chinese language and literature. Hongkong at this time had no settled respectable Chinese, let alone literati. The idea was soon abandoned when Sir Henry Pottinger, the ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1986 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063 158 CARL SMITH British Plenipotentiary, informed them that missionaries would not be welcomed at the Treaty Ports. British officials felt missionary efforts to convert Chinese would provoke the hostility of the mandarins and hinder the proper development of commerce and trade with foreigners. Sir Henry maintained that the treaty extended only to commercial relations between Great Britain and China and not to religious activities. During the discussion about the Anglo Chinese College some of the missionaries were rather critical of Dr. Morrison and his work. This deeply hurt his son, John Robert Morrison, who had been invited to attend the Hongkong meeting by the Mission Society's directors in London. This did not please some of the missionaries in the field, for the young Mr. Morrison was not a missionary but had the office of Chinese Secretary in the Government. A disinterested observer who attended the meetings remarked: "Indeed it seemed to be the studied purpose of some of them to cast discredit on Dr. Morrison by all means. John Morrison was affected to tears on learning of the way in which some of them spoke of his father." Fortunately there was a peacemaker present, W.H. Medhurst, the observer remarked. “If it had not been for him, I fear there would have been unpleasant consequences.” The outcome of all the troubled waters was that Dr. Legge was authorised to reopen the school in Hongkong, with four pupils in temporary quarters. FINDING A HOME FOR A COLLEGE It was no easy task reestablishing the Anglo-Chinese College in Hongkong. A new student body had to be gathered, a site for a building obtained, the building erected, the new financial support arranged. The Rev. James Legge, Principal of the school, had brought with him from Malacca only one student, an orphan boy he had taken into his family. Mrs. Legge had under her care a Chinese girl ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1986 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063 181 It also mentioned difficulties encountered by Chinese students in schools conducted by foreigners during the Opium War. A-chick wrote: “Mr. Brown is the best teacher that I know in my life, and his school is too. In this part of the country I think there is no such school as his. "Here there is a school for Deaf and Dumb in New York. But if Chinese were so, he would not learn anything, neither how to read nor write, until he died. "When school first formed had five boys - after about nine months some went home, because English were at war with China. Afterwards eldest of them whose name was A-ling went home, because he did a very bad thing and committed a great sin against God, as in the law of Moses and the prophets. "A-tseuk was taken home by his father. One day, as the English were fighting with the Chinese, his father came to Mr. Brown's school and wanted to take A-tseuk home. On the same day Mr. Brown was not at home. Then he wished to take him back without asking Mr. Brown. But A-tseuk wouldn't go, and his father gave him a flogging and he cried, and after about an hour they went. Next morning, father came and wanted to take his things home, when Mr. Brown saw him he rebuked him and he went home. "Now in this school our teacher has appointed a monitor to keep the boys still when the teacher is out, and the school in order, and they ring the bell to call the boys into study their lessons and say them to the teacher." The letter shows that A-chick had made good progress in English after two years' study. A year and a half after writing it, he was qualified to serve as an interpreter. In 1842 the Treaty of Nanking was signed and the British were granted the right to trade at six treaty ports. This privilege meant ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 44 37 Krone, p. 132. 18 Bruce Shepherd, The Hong Kong Guide (Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 1982; 1st published, Shanghai, 1893) pp. 117-118; R.C. Hurley, Tourists' Map of 8 Short Trips on the Mainland of China (Neighbourhood of Hong Kong) including Principal Places frequented by Sportsmen (Hong Kong: R.C. Hurley, 1896) enclosed in Blake to Chamberlain, April 28, 1899, #107: CO129/290, p. 7. 39 Shepherd, p. 117. 40 The Convention is appended in Wesley-Smith, Unequal Treaty, pp. 191-192. The negotiation of the Convention is dealt with in detail in the book. * Colonial Office draft telegram to Sir H.A. Blake, enclosed in Colonial Office to Foreign Office, April 27, 1899, despatch #130: CO882/5/66, p. 136. 42 Blake to Chamberlain, May 4, 1899, telegram: CO882/5/66, p. 140; Consul Mansfield to Bax-Ironside, April 20, 1899, enclosed in F.O. to C.O., July 13, 1899: ibid., p. 304. 43 Wesley-Smith, Unequal Treaty, p. 73. 44 The Order-in-Council, dated 27th December, 1899, is appended in ibid., pp. 196-7. 45 T'an Wen-chin kung tsou-kao, XUSA (Memorials of Tan Chung-lin) 2 volumes, (Taipei: Ch'eng-wen Co., based on 1911 edition) vol. 2, 248-26a. 46 Translation of a telegram from the Tsungli Yamen, dated Peking May 20, 1899, enclosed in F.O. to C.O., May 22, 1899: CO882/5/66, p. 160. 47 Lo Feng-luh [sic] to the Marquess of Salisbury, October 17, 1899, enclosed in F.O. to C.O., October 28, 1899: CO882/5/66, p. 364; Lo Feng-luh to the Marquess of Salisbury, November 14, 1899, enclosed in F.O. to C.O., November 25, 1899: ibid., p. 369. Peel to Cunliffe-Lister, January 9, 1934, confidential: CO129/546. 49 Stubbs to Amery, June 26, 1925, despatch #275: CO129/488. 50 Sheng San-i l'ang tsuan-hsi t’e-k'an 1890-1965 ——A (Special bulletin to commemorate the diamond jubilee of the Holy Trinity Church, 1890-1965) (Hong Kong: the Church [1965]) p. 34. 51 Ibid., p. 33. 52 Ibid., p. 34. $3 $4 Hong Kong Government Gazette, 1901, p. 1401, Peel to Cunliffe-Lister, January 9, 1934, confidential; Chiang-shan ku-jen, "feng-t'u", parts 106-107. 55 Stubbs to Amery, June 26, 1925, despatch #275; Chiang-shan ku-jen, “Pen-ti feng-kuang" (Local sights) part 163. These are articles appearing in the Hua-ch'iao jih-pao in 1931 and an album of them is in the University of Hong Kong Library, Jarrett, vol. 3, p. 609. 56 Stubbs to Amery, June 26, 1925, despatch #275. 57 Peel to Cunliffe-Lister, January 9, 1934, confidential: C. Van Leo, “A Little bit of China in the Heart of Hong Kong", Hong Kong Telegraph, January 18, 1937. R.C. Hurley, Handbook to the British Crown Colony of Hong Kong and Depen- 58 ¦ ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 71 1901 (see below). 36 Brewin, who was promoted to Registrar General in 1901, had also served briefly, from 1897 to 1901, as Inspector of Schools in succession to E.J. Eitel. His endorsement was, therefore, particularly valuable. He had been appointed, together with his successor as Inspector of Schools, E.A. Irving, and the Chinese member of the Legislative Council, Ho Kai, to the 1901-1902 Education Committee, the report of which contains blatant calls for the separate educational treatment of the different races and a clear recommendation, compatible with the extremes of colonialistic paternalism, that, as far as Chinese education was concerned, the Government should concentrate its efforts and finances on the education, in English, of the few who could be regarded as potential leaders. Interestingly, the Secretary of State for the Colonies at this time, Joseph Chamberlain, totally rejected this recommendation (Chamberlain to Sir Henry Blake, Governor of Hong Kong, 12th September, 1902, in CO129/311, p. 481). "For certain individuals, this explanation is something of a euphemism since the “medical and sanitary precautions" involved burning down their homes. The Plague first broke out in Hong Kong in the Spring of 1894. The death rate for the first five or six months was over 2,500, and, though, it was the Chinese population which was most affected, the Europeans were not untouched. Lady Robinson, the wife of the Governor of Hong Kong, was, for example, a victim. Dr. E.J. Eitel, the Inspector of Schools, provided details of the rumours circulating among the less educated Chinese, and their effects, in a memorandum to the Colonial Secretary on 22nd May 1894. Eitel wrote to report and explain "the panic which has suddenly decimated the attendance in the local Chinese Schools" and noted that the rumours began to spread in districts affected by the Plague on Sunday, 20th May and reached other districts the next day. The principal rumours were (a) that "the Government intended to select a few young Children from each School to subject them to a surgical incision of the liver in order to obtain bile, this being the only known remedy for curing the plague”; and, (b) that "every School would be visited by officers who would examine every child and send to the "Hygeia" anyone having the least boil or pimple on its body". Eitel speculated about the origin of the panic, attributing it to "the malicious distortion of the native medical fraternity" and concluded: “I do not think anything very effectual can be done to remove the suggestions of native malice to native ignorance and suspiciousness. Distrust of the Government is still rampant among the lower classes of Chinese. Education will remove it in time. (Memorandum No. 38 of 22nd May, 1894, by Dr. E.J. Eitel, Inspector of Schools; in CO129/263, p. 190-193). 39 In Arnold Wright (ed.), Twentieth Century Impressions of Hongkong, Shanghai, and the Other Treaty Ports of China: Their History, People, Commerce, Industries, and Resources (London: Lloyd's Greater Britain Publishing Company, Ltd., 1908), p. 182, for example, Mok Tso Chun, “a native of the Heungshan district" and formerly one of the directors of the Tung Wah Hospital, is described as the Chief Compradore of Butterfield and Swire. In the Anglo-Chinese Commercial Directory of circa 1915 (Chief Editor, Jan George Chance), a Mok Jao Chuen, clearly the same person as Mok Tso Chun, appears as Compradore for Butterfield and Swire, while a Choi Kung Po and a Mok Kon Sang appear as Assistant Compradores. Mok Man Cheung acted as witness to the will of Mok Tso [or Jao] Chun and the will, itself, makes it clear that Mok Kon Sang was Mok Tso Chun's eldest son. It was certainly not unusual for Compradores at this time to find positions for younger relatives. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 102 of this has yet been found although contemporary maps indicated at La Loma a "Burial place of infidels.” Infidels comprised non-Catholics and included European Protestants, Chinese, and Indians. Incidentally, still living in Cainta, only a few miles away are the descendants of the Indian troops of the expedition who decided to stay after deserting or being left behind after their boat capsized, but their distinctive looks are, however, slowly disappearing. Sadly, after being governed by the East India Company for eighteen months, Manila had to be returned to the Spanish by the Treaty of Paris in 1763. Speculation still exists amongst Filipino scholars about what the Philippines might have been if the British had remained in control — a British colony in the Far East, rich in natural resources, fifty years before the acquisition of Singapore and Malaya and eighty years before Hong Kong. Trade continued to prosper after the resumption of Spanish Authority, and, until 1821 the Philippines continued to be run from Mexico. Treaty ports and trading posts were established in several places including Sual in Pangasinan, on Luzon Island, in Iloilo on Panay and on Cebu and Protestant cemeteries were established in each town, where beforehand the burial of Protestants in consecrated ground was prohibited, (as was the importation of Protestant Bibles). With the expansion of trade, a burial place for the four hundred to five hundred aliens from Europe and North America living in Manila, was becoming an urgent necessity. In 1827 the first British Consul General was appointed and it was his successor, John William Perry Farren (sometimes referred to as Fearon) who in 1860 attempted to establish a Protestant Cemetery for the mostly but not exclusively British residents. Sadly, Farren became one of the cemetery's first residents within weeks of its establishment. On May 27th, 1862, the Spanish Government by a "Superior Decreto" granted permission to construct the Cemetery, and on March 11th, 1864 a lease was signed between Farren and Don Jose Bonifacio Roxas, the Owner of Hacienda de San Pedro, of a parcel of land of 31,656 "varas cuadradas" (22,467.85 sq metres or ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 146 The Chinese desire to have a consul in Hongkong was tied to the much larger problem of the opium trade. Hongkong had a special place in the trade. As a free port immediately next to the Chinese mainland, it was an excellent base for smuggling opium into China. The Chinese Government had for many years prohibited its importation. However, it reluctantly agreed to its legalisation by the Treaty of Tientsin in 1858. There was the hope that, if legalised, China could better control the trade. A heavy duty was levied on it, however, and to avoid payment, large quantities continued to be smuggled from Hongkong in Chinese junks. The smuggling was difficult to control. Hongkong regarded it strictly as China's problem. It saw no reason why it should be responsible for its suppression. It was the peculiar situation of Hongkong that made enforcement by the Chinese difficult. In Hongkong there were ample storage facilities for the drug. The processed opium could be purchased from the Government opium monopolists. There was little difficulty in putting it aboard a junk in Hongkong and delivering it to agents somewhere along the coast or in an inland waterway. Two types of charges were levied on opium. There was the duty on goods imported in foreign vessels to the treaty ports. The Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs became responsible for collecting this. In addition, there were provincial levies called likin. These varied from province to province and were subject to change at the will of the provincial administrators. This is the background for the intermittent suggestion that a Chinese official be placed in Hongkong to supervise the collection of duties imposed by the Chinese upon goods shipped from Hongkong and thereby to check the blatant smuggling. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 150 To rally support, the Governor invited representatives of the largest merchant firms to sit in on the meeting. Everyone at the meeting was in thorough agreement that a Chinese consul would be a great blow to trade in Hongkong. The Hongkong merchants were convinced the Chinese were already pursuing a policy of harassment of legitimate traders. A consul would only expose them to additional pressures. Sir Richard put forth the thesis that China could not expect the same rights as other Treaty Powers. He argued that China was different because all of its treaties with foreign powers had been entered into at the point of a gun. In spite of China having to make concessions, Governor Sir Richard claimed it still wished to be a hermit nation. It stubbornly resisted foreign demands for unrestricted trade and access to its markets by foreigners. The mercantile interests were ever pushing for the right to reside and trade anywhere in China, but on the condition that they also enjoy extra-territorial privileges. They did not wish to be subject to Chinese law. This view arose from a conviction that the institutions and customs of the European nations were superior to those of other parts of the world. Therefore, it was the duty of "civilised" nations to protect their citizens from becoming subject to the laws and customs of places that did not share their tradition. In support of the argument that China should not enjoy the rights of other Treaty Powers because of its reluctance to enter the community of nations, Sir Richard pointed out that while China had been given the right to send a minister to the Court of St. James in London, it had not done so. It was, therefore, inconsistent of China to wish to place a consul in Hongkong. If China was peculiar, so too was Hongkong. Sir Richard asked the Colonial and Foreign Offices to weigh the matter in the light of "the special and exceptional circumstances of this very peculiar ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 294 enced in colonial administration. They were also blessed with long tenures. J. H. Stewart Lockhart, who had advised the Hong Kong Government on the administration of the New Territories, was British Commissioner at Weihaiwei for nineteen years, and R. F. Johnston for sixteen. Weihaiwei was not a major port boasting access to other areas of China. Despite efforts at cultivation, except for ground-nuts, its lack of a marketable product meant the absence of a powerful foreign business community like those that challenged authority and policies of British officials at the treaty ports. The British administrators, therefore, could establish and carry out policies without having to consider other vested interests. As a rule, they were free to work within the framework of traditional Chinese institutions. Conservatism of the local gentry and absence of a strong Chinese middle class meant that there was no pressure on British administrators to bow to forces that clamoured for reform and modernization. During the first decades of the twentieth century, Chinese institutions were undergoing changes. Certain constitutional features were being introduced to the Chinese government, and, with the abolition of the civil service examination system in 1905, education based on Confucian classics was being replaced by a more modern, westernized curriculum. At Weihaiwei, however, neither the local elders nor the British administration sought to change the status quo. With the establishment of the Chinese Republic in 1912, demands for ending foreign privileges increased. Subsequent civil war among various warlord factions meant hardship for the people of Weihaiwei, but, until the formation of the National Government under Chiang Kai-shek in 1927, Britain did not have to give serious thought to returning Weihaiwei to Chinese rule. Meanwhile, administrators kept expenditures below revenue, partly because they wanted to make sure "that sufficient funds were available for staff pensions and other expenses when the British withdrew." (p. 168) The actual transfer of administration to the Chinese took place ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 296 Individual treaty ports in China as well as other parts of Asia, large and small, are receiving attention from scholars. Meanwhile, British Mandarins and Chinese Reformers should be read by all who are interested in modern China or who are interested in the British in Asia. Dr. Atwell has made a significant contribution to our knowledge of how the British administered one small locality and coped with demands of modern forces. Her work can be used as a guide or springboard for comparison of British colonial policy in various East Asian places, such as Brunei and the Straits Settlements, Hankow, Tientsin, and Shanghai, say, with Hong Kong tossed in for good measure. WEI PEH T'I* Steven A. Leibo, Transferring Technology to China, Prosper Giquel and the Self-strengthening Movement, China Research Monograph 28, Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, Berkeley, Center for Chinese Studies, 1985. Prosper Giquel, edited by Steven A. Leibo, A Journal of the Chinese Civil War 1864. Honolulu, University of Hawaii Press, 1985. These two works, one of compilation and assessment based on a doctoral dissertation, the other of translation (with the help of Debbie Weston) and annotation with a lengthy introduction, have a considerable intrinsic interest because they deal with a rather extraordinary man. They have also a degree of relevance, over a century later, for the West's involvement with present-day China's modernizing programme. They are to be read in conjunction with other modern works on this period of China's self-strengthening efforts, including those listed in Dr. Leibo's introduction to Transferring Technology. Prosper Giquel, a French naval officer, came to China during the Second China War. After service with the Joint Commission * Wei Peh T'i is Honorary Lecturer, Department of History, and Research Associate, Centre of Asian Studies, University of Hong Kong. She is the author of Shanghai: Crucible of Modern China (1987). ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 64 on earth had induced me to make such an appalling selection of colours. When I explained that the selection had very kindly been made by Mrs. L..... the temperature quickly rose to boiling point. As the ladies said, "Why, Mrs. L. . . . hardly ever comes to the Club; and she never plays bridge". I beat a hasty retreat to drown my sorrows at the bar, and soon after found it convenient to give up bridge altogether. In the Club the consumption of liquids, refreshing or otherwise, varied. Sometimes it led to peculiar situations. There was the occasion in 1924 I think when late one night the two other members of the Municipal Council, by which the small affairs of the Concession were managed, took offence at the vinous truculence of their Chairman, and called in the police to remove him to cool his heels in the cells. Unfortunately the two strong-minded, but junior, members of the Council on the following morning, when they awoke refreshed by a night of comfort at home in bed, had quite forgotten the events of the previous evening; and it was not till later in the day, after he had himself come to, that they received a plaintive reminder from their Chairman requesting that he might be released from his own police cells. Throughout the period of 1911-1926 the Treaty Ports, such as Kiu Kiang, provided harbours of refuge, to whose security hundreds of thousands of Chinese threatened by the tide of civil war, fled. Kiu Kiang had had its share of recent disturbances. For Sun Yat Sen, having applied to British officials for help and having met with a refusal, based on the correct British attitude of non-interference in the internal affairs of a friendly country, had turned to Russia. Michael Borodin with a group of Bolshevik advisers had consequently proceeded to Canton to advise the Kuo Min Tang Revolutionary Party and there, with consummate skill, had created the intellectual cohesion necessary to the effort of unifying China. Borodin appealed to the deep-seated exclusive instincts of the sons of Han, the inhabitants of a kingdom, which from time immemorial had been called the Middle Kingdom, because all other peoples existed only in outer darkness. The instrument was the Chinese Revolutionary Army, led by officers indoctrinated with Kuo Min Tang ideology at the Whampoa Military Academy, of which General Chiang Kai Shek was principal. By October of 1926 this army, fighting staunchly through incredible hardships against ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 246 King, F.H.H. and P. Clarke: “A Research Guide to China Coast Newspapers 1822-1911”, Cambridge (Mass), 1965. Kosch, Wilhelm: "Deutsches Theater Lexikon", Klagenfurt, 1960. Kounin, I.I.: "The Diamond Jubilee of the International Settlement of Shanghai", Shanghai, n.d. (c. 1939). Kunitz, Stanley (Ed.): "British Authors of the 19th Century", N.Y., 1936. Lang, H.: “Shanghai considered socially", Shanghai, 1875. Lanning, G. and S. Couling: "The History of Shanghai", Vol. I.; Shanghai, 1921. MacGuire, Paul: "The Australian Theatre", Melbourne, 1948. MacLellan, J.W.: "The Story of Shanghai from the opening of the port to foreign trade". Shanghai, 1889. Makepeace, Walter, Gilbert E. Brooke and R. St. J. Bradwell (Ed): 'One Hundred Years of Singapore", 2 vols.; London, 1921. Maybon, Charles B. & J. Fredet: "Histoire de la Concession Francaise de Changhai'', Paris, 1929. Maude, Cyril: "The Haymarket Theatre, Some Records and Reminiscences" London, 1903. Mullin Donald (Ed.): "Victorian Actors and Actresses in Review", Westport, 1983 National Union Catalogue. 1 Nicoll, Allardyce: "A History of English Drama 1660-1900", 6 vols,; Cambridge 1952ff. Pal, John: "Shanghai Saga", London, 1963. Pearsall, Ronald: "Victorian Popular Music", Newton Abbot, 1973. "The Player's Library. A Catalogue of the Library of the British Drama League”, London, 1950. Pope, W.J. Macqueen: "Haymarket, Theatre of Perfection", London, 1948. Reynolds, Ernest: "Early Victorian Drama (1830-1870), New York, 1965 (reprint of 1936 edition). Riemann, Hugo: "Musik Lexikon", Berlin, 1916 (8th edition). Rowell, George (Ed.): "Nineteenth Century Plays”, Oxford, 1972. “Shanghai Alamanac” 1855, 1856, 1858, 1862; Shanghai, 1854ff years. **Shanghai t'ung yen-chiu tzu-liao (Shanghai Research Materials), Hong Kong 1972 (reprint of 1936 edition). Smith, C.; "The Hong Kong Amateur Dramatic Club and its predecessors" in: "Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the R.A.S.", Vol. 22 (1982), p. 217-251. Thomson, Peter: "Plays by Dion Boucicault", Cambridge, 1984. Toll, Robert C.: 'Blacking Up. The Minstrel Show in 19th century America”, New York, 1974. Troubridge, St. Vincent: "The Benefit System in the British Theatre”, London, 1967. Wearing, J.P.: "American and British Theatrical Biography", London, 1979. White, Walter: "China Station 1859-1864", London, 1972. Williams, Harold S.: "Tales of the Foreign Settlements in Japan", Tokyo, 1972. Wright, Arnold and H.A. Cartwright: "Twentieth Century Impressions of Hong Kong. Shanghai and other Treaty Ports of China", London, 1908. Abbreviations: NOTES BGM: Boletim do Governo de Macao. NCH: North China Herald. SCR: Shanghai Commercial Record. 1 Performance 6.5.1852. NCH 8.5.1852. Only passing attention has been paid to the early theatre in Shanghai: Lanning & Couling. p. 429-430: MacLennan: p. 85-86. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 415 community elders and magistrates who represented the central government in these localities. Early conflicts over such issues as taxes and militia were resolved when Britain began to send civilian commissioners experienced in colonial administration. They were also blessed with long tenures — J. H. Stewart Lockhart, who had advised the Hong Kong Government on administration of the New Territories, was British Commissioner at Weihaiwei for nineteen years, and R. F. Johnston for sixteen. Weihaiwei was not a major port boasting access to other areas of China. Despite efforts at cultivation - ineffective except for ground nuts — its lack of a marketable product meant the absence of a powerful foreign business community like those that challenged the authority and policies of British officials at the treaty ports. The British administrators, therefore, could establish and carry out policies without having to consider other vested interests. As a rule, they were free to work within the framework of traditional Chinese institutions. The conservatism of the local gentry and the absence of a strong Chinese middle class meant that there was no pressure on British administrators to bow to forces that clamoured for reform and modernization. During the first decades of the twentieth century, Chinese institutions were undergoing changes. Certain constitutional features were being introduced into the Chinese government, and, with the abolition of the civil service examination system in 1905, education based on Confucian classics was being replaced by a more modern, westernized curriculum. At Weihaiwei, however, neither the local elders nor the British administration sought to change the status quo. With the establishment of the Chinese Republic in 1912 demands for ending foreign privileges increased. Subsequent civil war among various warlord factions meant hardship for the people of Weihaiwei, but, until the formation of the National Government under Chiang Kai-shek in 1927, Britain did not have to give serious thought to returning Weihaiwei to Chinese rule. Meanwhile, administrators kept expenditures below revenue, partly because they wanted to make sure that sufficient funds were available for staff pensions and other expenses when the British withdrew, (p. 168). The actual transfer of administration to the Chinese took place on 1 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 416 October 1930. The Chinese, in the opinion of Dr. Atwell, had not done their homework. The administrator sent by the central government was a naval officer. Instead of working within the framework of local traditions, the central government chose to embark on a programme of immediate modernization and reform, doing away with practices of many centuries, leading to deprivation and resentment. Economic and social conditions continued to deteriorate. The area was again occupied by Japanese forces when the second Sino-Japanese War began in 1937. If Dr. Atwell's work has to be faulted at all, it would be on her preponderant reliance upon British documents. Even what Chinese policies were and how people felt about them were discerned from Foreign Office records. Motivations and reasons for adoption of certain policies, therefore, were not exactly taken from the horse's mouth, so to speak. Dr. Atwell has a more than respectable command of Chinese, and could have investigated more Chinese sources in greater depth. Perhaps her mentors at the University of London did not encourage consultation of Chinese historical archives. Perhaps the documents were not accessible. In addition, it must have been a disappointment to Dr. Atwell and a loss to the readers that she was denied access to some important personal papers of Lockhart. It must also be noted that Chinese central governments did not normally look at localities except as a small part of the whole. Policies and programmes were adopted for the entire country, and Weihaiwei came under them only as a part of the whole. It was, as Dr. Atwell has pointed out, T. V. Soong, Minister of Finance, therefore, rather than the local administrator, who determined fiscal policies for Weihaiwei after 1930. The National Government was following the time-honoured tradition of giving priority to the total polity over individual localities. Perhaps, had British administrators followed modernization programmes adopted elsewhere in China, Chinese rulers after 1930 would not have needed to use such drastic means. Scholars in future may examine Chinese materials more fully, including extant archival sources which are becoming routinely consulted in Chinese historical research, and may find some of the answers to the questions raised by Dr. Atwell's investigations. Individual treaty ports in China as well as other parts of Asia, large and small, are receiving attention from scholars. Meanwhile, British Mandarins and Chinese Reformers should be read by all who are ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1990 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299 90 brought in own friends and those displaced, however capable, had to go out to find jobs elsewhere. It made for loyalties on a personal as opposed to a national scale. The Customs service, under foreign supervision, was the first to produce a cadre of permanent officials, and other government departments now set out to follow that example. Yet it should be remembered that relationships in China are still almost exclusively on a personal basis. If I have some business to transact, and if I know the right man, it will probably be easy to arrange; but if I do not know the right man, or have not got friends who can give me the proper introductions, then my business will almost certainly languish indefinitely. Personal relations are important anywhere in the world; in China they are more important than anywhere else. It was, however, in communications that the greatest advances had been made by the new government. Railways were in course of construction under capable Chinese engineers, trained for the most part in the United States; and a network of roads began to spread in all directions, linking remote and backward country towns with the progressive markets on the coast. The telegraph achieved popularity, and the long-distance telephone. Broadcasting stations were erected at a number of places; over these news and views went out in a common dialect, which was compulsorily taught in the schools, and concurrently the simplification of the written style in the newspapers led to the spread of a language understood throughout the country. So in many directions the new developments worked to break down the old partitions. A proportion of the national revenue had been spent in improving the amenities of the capital: wide thoroughfares were cut through the old native city: magnificent government offices rose here and there, topping happily the concrete styles of New York with the curved roofs of Cathay: the electricity supply was good: water was laid on. In the residential district elegant houses vied in diversity of design. The roads streamed with traffic, and the very latest in ferries carried trains across the Yangtze. In the large treaty ports it was difficult for foreigners and Chinese to mix. Habits were too different. The Chinese like to drink with their meals; the foreigner likes to drink before he eats. The foods they ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1990 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299 124 international communities, the smaller treaty ports had come to depend for their foreign population on the few large companies which maintained organisations throughout the country. These included the British American Tobacco Company, the Asiatic Petroleum (Shell) Company, amongst the distributing companies, and Messrs. Jardine Matheson and Company generally known as Ewo, and Messrs. Butterfield and Swire, amongst the shipping companies. Imperial Chemical Industries as a rule only had offices in the larger ports. China at one time offered the largest market in the world for cheap quality cigarettes, and for kerosene (paraffin as we call it). The motorist in Britain and America paid less for petrol because of the kerosene offtake in China. It is self-evident that amongst the cuts distilled from the crude oil petrol, kerosene, lubricating oil, diesel oil, wax and asphalt the cost of production is recovered in proportion on each finished product and, if the market for one of those products is limited, then the price proportionately increases on the others. — ― But let not our Chinese friends claim that the distribution of kerosene in China was a form of oppressive dumping. It was not. A very real demand for illumination was met, where other satisfactory illuminants were missing, and at a price below that at which the locally produced and less efficient vegetable oils could be marketed. And this despite the heavy duty which was collected on the imported product for revenue purposes, so that it could be said of kerosene that in China it not only provided almost the sole source of illumination, but also a substantial contribution towards the cost of government. The urgency of war was more evident in Kiu Kiang, though the Japanese had refrained from bombing the former Concession area. My old Chinese friends all wanted to know what was going to happen. How could I tell them? The Club had moved from the Customs godown to our former flat, the interior of which had been reconstructed to meet the new purpose. The bar was in our former bedroom, and from behind it the same ancient retainer dispensed the drinks; even the dice boxes looked the same with their heavy yellow ivory dice. But I could not loiter to rattle these for long. There was a decrepit railway to Nanchang, the provincial capital, a hundred miles to the south, and with some difficulty I procured a seat for myself on the train, which as always in China was overcrowded. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1990 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299 125 The journey takes the whole day. It was almost dark when I got off and walked across the long new road bridge, erected over the great Kan river which forms the main artery down the centre of Kiangsi province, as the Siang river does in Hunan. And as in Hunan the Siang river passes through the Tung Ting lake, one of the natural overflow reservoirs into which the surplus waters of the Yangtze pour during the summer freshets, so in Kiangsi the Kan river passes through the Poyang lake before reaching the Yangtze some miles below Kiu Kiang. Nanchang stands where the Kan river enters the lake. Like Kweilin it is not a treaty port. Apart from missionaries no foreigners were allowed to live here, but they could transact business and pay visits. In the old days owing to the discomfort of the railway we generally preferred to come by houseboat through the lake; but now the motor car had begun to replace all that, though the process was hindered by the scarcity of petrol caused by the war. The population of Nanchang could not be far short of a million. The narrow streets were giving way to wide new thoroughfares on which the city bus services operated. Though many in China could afford motor cars, away from the treaty ports their use was not common, because only too often, unless the owner could arrange through his friends for protection, the car would be commandeered for military business claimed to be urgent. It is this fear of commandeering that has restricted the distribution of the private car and the private wireless set in China. The very shops were changing their nature. The old shops, in their narrow alleys, would show a front open to the cust, of which there was plenty, and receive such meagre light as the proximity of the houses on either side of the strect admitted. The back of the shop would be dark. Perhaps, a small kerosene lamp stood on a desk to light up the accountant's daybook. Across the front and down part of one side, along the passage to the back, an open counter awaited the display of such goods as the customer might require. These would be drawn from the shelves at the back by one of the numerous assistants, mostly relations of the owner, who would be standing behind, leaning their elbows on the counter, and killing much time by making comment on the people passing in the street. The intending purchaser would examine the article exposed for his inspection and point out its numerous defects, imagined or real, while the assistant would take the opposite view and extol its merits. There ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1990 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299 138 might be more useful outside. The Japanese had not yet occupied all the coast; foreign ships were still sailing to the unoccupied ports. I slipped out to Ningpo, intending to remain a few days while watching to see which way the cat jumped: but instead of attacking Hongkong, the Japanese landed at Chinhai, at the mouth of the Ningpo river, and I was thus cut off. After a fortnight they withdrew, leaving guard ships to watch the approaches. In the meantime the Chinese had mined the Ningpo river to deny entry to Japanese ships. I was shut in at Ningpo for three months during the heat of the summer. It was my first contact for two years with unoccupied China. With the restrictions imposed, first by the impediments arising from the Japanese war with China, and in the second place by the shortage of shipping and exports consequent on the war with Germany in Europe, British trade in the interior of China was at a standstill. The large British firms found it commercially unprofitable to keep their staff in many of the remaining treaty ports of free China, and withdrew them to Shanghai and Hongkong. British opinion thus, on the one hand, tended to lose touch with conditions in free China, while, on the other, was increasingly exposed to impression by the Japanese, who swarmed so actively in the occupied ports. The British were no more at fault than the Americans or the French, but for the Americans the balance was to some extent redressed by their larger and more vocal upcountry missionary organisation; as British interests out-numbered those of the other powers, so did the Chinese tend to concentrate criticism on them for continued failure to realise that China was fighting the battle of the democracies. A particularly unfortunate failure was the continued indifference shewn to the Chinese Government at Chungking. While it was still in Nanking, with branch divisions in Shanghai, foreign firms had extensive contacts with all the various departments, but when the Government was driven first to Hankow, and then to Chungking, no attempt was made to follow and nurse those contacts. The Chinese Government in its extremity would have welcomed any display of sympathy and was affronted by this neglect, but the large firms continued to treat their business in the Capital at the level of the small and remote treaty port, which Chungking had been. One consequence, for instance, occurred in 1943, when the two leading British banks belatedly decided to open branches in Chungking. The Chinese kept them waiting six months on the doorstep. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1990 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299 139 I was in Ningpo when the announcement of the closing of the Burma road was received. It was a severe blow for the Chinese, but I think they appreciated the difficulties of Britain's position and that she had only been compelled by the force of circumstances to accede to the Japanese demand. Nothing could have exceeded the kindness and courtesy shown to me by the merchants and officials whom I met. Ningpo was one of the first five treaty ports, opened to trade in 1842. Early promises had not been fulfilled, and the port, overshadowed by Shanghai, had remained small. Off the mouth of the Ningpo river on the largest island of the Chusan archipelago lay the walled city of Tinghai, occupied by British troops twice for a space of several years between 1840 and 1860. Tinghai at one time was designated, instead of Hongkong, as the place to be ceded to Britain for the repair of vessels. It looks a healthy enough place, built up the slopes of a high hill, yet the troops suffered much from sickness and the stones in the graveyard bear witness to the numbers buried there. The garrison imported some turkeys, to provide variety for the larder. The British troops have long since left, but the climate was favourable to turkeys, and now large flocks descended from the original birds are bred to supply the Christmas market in Shanghai. In Ningpo, the graveyard contains the stone monument, first erected outside the East gate of the city, to commemorate the assistance given by Captain Roderick Dew, R.N., and Lieutenant Kenny of the French Navy and their respective ships' companies, in 1862, to the Imperial Chinese troops in expelling the Taiping rebels from the town. It was nearby that the American General Ward, Gordon's predecessor in command of the Ever Victorious army, was killed. But times change. To Dr. Sun Yat Sen and the Kuo Min Tang the Taiping rebels are the glorious forerunners of their own revolution, and it is doubtful whether General Gordon, or the British, are given any credit for having assisted the Imperial Government to quell the rebellion. The country round the little Ningpo plain is very beautiful. In previous winters I used to shoot on the shallow lakes which lay amongst the hills to the west. Most sportsmen waited to go after the early morning and evening flights of duck, but I preferred to work along the edge of the hills with my dog for the occasional pheasant. They were not so numerous here as amongst the reedbeds of the Yangtze. Beyond the lakes, the deep waters of Nimrod Sound were ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1990 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299 255 The Hong Kong Guide 1893 (republished 1982) Hughes, Richard, Borrowed Place Borrowed Time, Hong Kong and its Many Faces (London 1968, reprinted 1976) Hunter, W.C., The "Fan Kwac" at Canton Before Treaty Days 1825-1844 (republished 1965) Hutcheon, Robin, The Blue Flame, 125 Years of Town Gas in Hong Kong (1987) Hutcheon, Robin, Wharf. The First Hundred Years, 1886-1986 (1986) Ingrams, Harold, Hong Kong (London, 1952) Jardine, Matheson & Company... an historical sketch (undated) Jarrell, Old Hong Kong Jones, Stephanie, Two Centuries of Overseas Trading. The Origins and Growth of the Inchcape Group) (England, 1986) King, Frank H.H., The History of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, vols. I to IV Lawrence, Anthony, and Frederick Amentrout, The Taipan Traders Liu Kwang-ching, Anglo-American Steamship Rivalry in China 1862-1874 (Harvard 1962) Luff, John, Hong Kong Cavalcade (1968) Luff, John, The Hidden Years, Hong Kong 1947-1945 (1967) Luff, John, The Hong Kong Story (circa late 1960s) MacMillan, Alistair, Seaports of the Far East (1925) Morris, Jan, Hong Kong, Xianggang (England, 1988) Murray, Simon, Legionnaire (England, 1980) Peak Tramway. 1888–1988 Present Day Impressions of the Far East and Prominent and Progressive Chinese at Home and Abroad, Managing Director W.H. Morton-Cameron, Editor-in Chief W. Feldwick (1917) Royal Asiatic Society, Hong Kong Branch, journals, various The Thistle and the Jade. A Celebration of 150 Years of Jardine. Matheson & Co. Editor Maggie Keswick (London, 1982) Twentieth Century Impressions of Hong Kong. Shanghai, and Other Treaty Ports of China, Editor in Chief Arnold Wright (1908) Wong Siu-lun, Emigrant Entrepreneurs: Shanghai Industrialists In Hong Kong (1988) UNPUBLISHED BOOKS Book 1, The Canton Dispensary 1828-1838 Book II, The Hong Kong Dispensary 1841-1862 Book III, A.S. Watson and Company 1862-1886 COMPANY BROCHURES, LEAFLETS AND MAGAZINES A.S. Watson & Co., Limited Brief History: The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation China Light and Power Co. Ltd. (annual reports) Deacon's The Elements of Power, China Light & Power History of Hong Kong & China Gas Co. Ltd Hong Kong Bank Group Magazines Hong Kong Land 1889/1989 Hong Kong's Noonday Gun (Jardine) Hutchison Whampoa Limited (annual reports) Inchcape: The International Services and Marketing Group A Pictorial History of Hong Kong Electric Standard Chartered News ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1990 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299 304 She first arrived in Hong Kong in May 1857 under the agency of Dent & Co, one of the major trading companies in the rapidly expanding colony. For the next three years the Norna carried general cargo along the China coast between Hong Kong and the Treaty Ports. In 1860 Dent & Co. decided to move her to the more profitable tea trade route to Australia. The Norna, under the command of Captain Wilson, received orders to make sail for Foo Chow, load her cargo of tea and proceed to Sydney. For crew, Wilson had eight Europeans and twenty lascars. As was not uncommon at the time, he also took along his wife and young son. On the 27th September 1860 the Norna, loaded with tea chests, made her way down the Min River and headed south for Australia where she arrived two days before Christmas. Within two weeks the Norna had completed unloading and sailed in ballast the short distance up the coast to Newcastle. Here she took on coal for delivery to Hong Kong. On the 3rd March the Norna had taken on over 400 tons of her cargo and put to sea for the return passage to Hong Kong. Lying in her path in the Western Pacific, just north of the equator, were the Caroline Islands. This group of islands stretch for about 2,000 miles east/west between Palau and Ponape (Pohnpei) and consist of about 560 coral islands, islets and atolls, the majority uninhabited. As the evening closed in on the 31st March 1861, the wind had increased to a strong breeze and the Norna was sailing at a steady 10 knots on a west nor'west course. Unknown to Wilson, he had his bows pointed directly at the coral-rimmed Oroluk Lagoon. Somehow his precise navigation had failed him. At 2200 hours that night, the Norna struck hard and remained held fast in the coral, her timbers splintered and beyond repair. The following morning Wilson established that the atoll was about 15 miles in diameter with the small half-square-mile island of St Augustine 12 miles to their north-west. The crew worked feverishly around the wreck for a week to salvage what they could, and in the three ship's boats rowed across the lagoon to the uninhabited St Augustine island. After ten days ================================================================================ 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-1990 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299 340 The jacket proclaims this to be a "meticulously researched study"; therefore, I was all the more surprised to find elementary errors. For example, Hong Kong Island was ceded to the British Government in 1842 in the Treaty of Nanking, not in 1843 (p 2). Also, South Sea Textile Manufacturing Company, Limited has never, to my knowledge, been known as "South Sea Cotton Mill" (p 55). Such unfortunate lapses, while they may be minor, tend to cast doubt about how much meticulous research went into this manuscript. There is a tendency to report, not analyze. One might be led to believe that mill owners felt insecure as immigrants to Hong Kong (p 51). Yet, on the very next page, the Shanghainese entrepreneurs are credited with having a "long term time horizon" and that “in spinning, one has to wait before the capital will yield profit" (p 52). This contradiction is neither pointed out nor elaborated upon. Incomplete research in other places leads to trivial or misleading conclusions. I found myself frustrated that, with all the data the author had in hand, other questions were not addressed. A Shanghainese industrialist in 1948, armed perhaps with an MBA, would, if he had done a thorough analysis, probably not have set up a spinning and weaving operation in Hong Kong. In those days, all raw materials, machinery and spare parts, down to nuts and bolts, had to be imported. There was no domestic market. And yet, not only did the Shanghainese establish themselves in Hong Kong, they, by and large, prospered. Why? And did they do as well in other Asian countries? We will have to wait for another book to find out the answers to these questions. MARTIN TANG Michael Y. L. Luk. The Origins of Chinese Bolshevism, and Ideology in the Making. Hong Kong, Oxford University Press, 1990 (East Asian Historical Monographs) viii + 366pp. Bibliography. Index. Analysis of the incubation and early development stages of the Chinese Communist movement, lasting through the 1920s, presents historians with a difficult and complex task. For decades many of the intellectual elite of China had been convinced that only sweeping political and cultural changes could save the country from unlimited ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1991 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/k356gt84j themselves they had to turn to migration to urban centres and overseas emigration, and to nonfarm work in the villages. Following the path of the traditional junk trade, overseas emigration was common in southern Fukien (Fujian) and eastern Guangdong in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, but it did not spread to the rest of Guangdong until the nineteenth century. In the 1860s, when the European powers were initiating mining and plantation projects in Southeast Asia, and when the American continent was building transcontinental railways, China became a popular source for labour recruitment. There were three major emigrant areas in South China: first, southern Fujian and eastern Guangdong; second, the western part of the Pearl River delta and Siyi, namely Kaiping, Enping, Xinhui, and Xinning (later renamed as Taishan); and third, northeastern Hainan Island. People from the first area were the first to emigrate because of the junk trade with Southeast Asia. The Nanking (Nanjing) Treaty following the Opium War in 1842, which stipulated the establishment of treaty ports along the coast of China, broke the Canton monopoly. The newly opened ports of Shanghai, Ningbo, Fuzhou and Amoy (Xiamen) competed with Canton for China's foreign trade. With the rich Yangzi River valley as its hinterland, Shanghai soon began to fulfill its extraordinary potential as a port of trade. By 1850 the volume of trade in Shanghai had surpassed that of Canton. Trade routes were diverted to these cities, causing a lot of porters and boatmen to lose their jobs. Canton was no longer a recipient of any substantial foreign investment. It went either to Shanghai or Hong Kong. The development of Hong Kong with a shift of British interest from Macau and Canton also attracted many Cantonese merchants to search for economic opportunities. For instance, Cantonese traders, artisans, and laborers from all neighbouring districts followed the British merchants in flocking to the British colony. Moreover, Hong Kong had become a major centre of Cantonese emigration abroad. The high points of overseas emigration came between 1890 and 1904. Between 1885 and 1900, a total of 1,830,572 Chinese emigrants embarked at the port of Hong Kong. The overwhelming majority of the Cantonese emigration came from the Pearl River delta region, particularly from the counties shown in figure 1. The Xinning, Xinhui, Kaiping and Enping were known collectively as Siyi while Panyu, Nanhai and Shunde were Sanyi. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1991 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/k356gt84j 26 Run, it is difficult to assess Tang's personal wealth accumulated during his compradorial years due to the absence of sources. However, it is not impossible to have an idea of his business activities through his connections with other Cantonese merchants and compradors. Tang Tingshu left Jardines in 1873 when he was appointed General Manager (Zongban) of the recently organised China Merchants' Steam Navigation Co. The reason why he was appointed to the post was first his political patronage from Li Hongzhang; and second, his experience in organising steamship business. Tang put capital in Jardine's associate companies such as the Canton Insurance Office in 1868 and China Coast Steam Navigation Co. in which he had 40% of shares at 40,000 taels. Tang was mostly interested in this modern steamship business; he invested in and became one of the directors of the Union Steam Navigation Co. and also North China Steamer Co. established in 1867 and 1868 respectively. In 1870, Tang with his friends, purchased the steamer Nanzing and sold it to Jardines in which he had a personal investment of not more than fifteen thousand taels. At that time, Tang also put his capital into the steamer Suwonada of Augustine Heard & Co. and ships of two small steamship companies, Morris Lewis & Co. and H. Muller & Co. Although no evidence shows why the foreign owners of these companies invited Tang to join in partnership other than the motive of raising capital, it is certain that Tang was not inexperienced, for he was, as expressed by Liu Kwang-ching, "in some cases actually performing full managerial functions" in the modern steamship enterprises. More interesting is that Tang brought with him Cantonese capital as well as managerial staff to the China Merchants' Steam Navigation Co. Tang and Xu had entered with many management officers. Starting from Shanghai, these Cantonese spread to other treaty-ports such as Tianjin or Hankou. Tang frequently joined with Xu Run and another Cantonese comprador at Shanghai, Zheng Guanying, in coordinating business investment. For example, with Xu Run, he invested in Anhui Guichi mines in 1877; Pingchuan Copper Mines in 1887 and Qian'an Iron Works in 1888. With Zheng Guanying, he invested sixty-five thousand taels in Tianjin Tanggu Cultivation Co. in 1881, and ten years later, they planned to build a paper manufactory. Tang and Zheng united to open two wharf companies, one at Foshan in 1882 and one at Canton in 1890. And last but not least, Tang and Xu as well as Xu's uncle, contributed a thousand taels each in founding, in 1872, the first Cantonese Chamber of Commerce in ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1991 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/k356gt84j 30 enterprises," but also challenged their foreign counterparts by planning, organising, and managing most of the modern Chinese enterprises. As Thomas Rawski has pointed out, Western firms in Chinese treaty-ports such as Shanghai were ineffectual on their own; they had to rely on Chinese compradors to conduct business with their Chinese associates. Cantonese compradors were in such a position that they could dominate the main business in Shanghai during the nineteenth century where they had fully shown their special entrepreneur genius." Notes Assessment of recent studies of Chinese ethnic groups is mainly quoted from Emily Honig (1992) pp. 6-7 2 As Yen-p'ing Hao mentioned most of the Cantonese compradors came from the coastal prefectures of Guangdong province as Zhongshan, Nanhai and Panyu See Hao (1970a). p. 13 1 For sample of letter of recommendation for comprador used in the 1870s, see Appendix + HKRS#144-245 Wong Kong (August 1867) 4 Hao has explained why Western firms in Japan employed Chinese instead of Japanese compradors. See Hao (1970a), pp. 51-9 6 The first three British firms opened were Dent & Co. (first established Canton, 1832), and Gibb, Livingston & Co. (1836 in Canton) 7 Wei came from the Zhongshan prefecture, his father was a comprador to two American merchants Benjamin Chew Wilcocks and Oliver H. Gorden. He followed a missionary and moved from Canton to Hong Kong. In 1852 he entered Bowra & Co. as a comprador and five years later when the Chartered Mercantile Bank of India, London and China established a branch in Hong Kong he joined the Bank as its first comprador. See Smith (1985), pp. 62-9 and Wei A Kwong's will, HKRS#144-368: Wei A Kwong (October 1866), Wei Yuk's brother Wei Long Shan went to Shanghai to learn business in 1871. He returned to Hong Kong after twelve years and then became comprador to the Eastern Extension and Great Northern Telegraph Co. from 1882 to 1902. He was also assistant comprador at the Hongkong & Shanghai Bank from 1885 to 1895. In the absence of sufficient sources, it is difficult to assess Wei's wealth accumulated during his comprador's years. The Ho family, beginning with Ho Tung, was called a comprador family. Ho introduced his two brothers Ho Fuk and Ho Kom Tong as assistant compradors to Jardine who later succeeded him; his adopted son Ho Sai Wing was the Hong Kong Bank's comprador through thirty-four years from 1912 to 1964. Ho Sai Wing's brothers: Ho Sai Iu was comprador of the Mercantile Bank of India, Ho Sai Kwong of David Sassoon & Co.; Ho Sai Leung of Jardine, Matheson & Co., Ho Sai Ki of Arnhold & Co. Ho Sai Wa, son of Ho Kom Tong was an assistant comprador in Mercantile Bank. See Group Archives of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, Comprador Files. Ho Sai Wing. Ho Fuk (Ho Fook)'s son was said to have assisted him in Jardine's work. 10 This company was said to have close business relations with Shanghai's Ting Tai firm. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1991 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/k356gt84j 35 Faure, David W. 1990. The Rice Trade in Hong Kong Before the Second World War. In Between East and West Aspects of Social and Political Development 216-25. Edited by Elizabeth Sinn. Hong Kong: Centre of Asian Studies, University of Hong Kong. Fok, Kai-cheong. 1988. Wanqing qijian Xianggang dui neidi jingji fazhan zhi yingxiang (The influences of Hong Kong on the economic development of mainland during the late Qing period). In Xueshu Yanjiu 1988/2 70-4. 1989. Xianggang huaren zai jindaishi shang dui Zhongguo de gongxian shixi (A preliminary study on the contributions of Hong Kong Chinese to China in modern history). In Huaren Yanjiu | 81-8. 1990a. Lectures on Hong Kong History Hong Kong's Role in Modern Chinese History. Hong Kong: Commercial Press. 1990b. Private Chinese Business Letters and the Study of Hong Kong Industry: A Preliminary Report. In Collected Essays on Various Historical Materials for Hong Kong Studies. Edited by Hong Kong Museum of History. Hong Kong: Urban Council. 1992. Xianggang yu Jindai Zhongguo (Hong Kong and modern China). Hong Kong: Commercial Press. 1993. Nineteenth Century Hong Kong: China's Gateway to the Western World of Business - themes and sources. Unpublished paper presented at the 34th International Congress on Asian and North African Studies. Hong Kong. Gaw, Kenneth. 1988. Superior Servants: the Legendary Cantonese Amahs of the Far East. Singapore and New York: Oxford University Press. Godley, Michael R. 1981. The Treaty Port Connection: An Essay. In Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 12/1 248-59. Hamashita, Takeshi. 1991. Higashi Ajiashi ni okeru Honkon no ichi (The role of Hong Kong in East Asian history). In Sōbun 320 1-8. Hamilton, Gary Glen. 1991. Edited Business Networks and Economic Development in East and Southeast Asia. Hong Kong: University Press. Hao, Yen-p'ing. 1969. Cheng Kuan-ying: The Comprador as Reformer. In Journal of Asian Studies 29/1 15-22. 1970a. The Comprador in Nineteenth-Century China: Bridge Between East and West. Cambridge and Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. 1970b. A New Class in China's Treaty Ports: The Rise of the Comprador-Merchants. In Business History Review 44/4 446-59. 1970c. Maiban shangren wanqing tongshang kouan yi xinxing jieceng (Comprador-merchants: "new class" in late Qing treaty ports). In Gugong Wenxian 2/1 35-44. 1977. Zhongguo jindai yanhai shangye de buwenling-sheng (Commercial uncertainties along modern China's Coast). In Shihuo Yuekan 7/8-9 1-11. 1979. Commercial Capitalism along the China Coast during the Late Qing Period. In Proceedings of the Conference on Modern Chinese Economic History 303-27. Edited by Chi-ming Hou and Trong-shian Yu. Taiber: Institute of Economics, Academia Sinica. 1982a. Entrepreneurship and the West in East Asian Economic and Business History. In Business History Review 56/2 149-67. 1982b. The Compradors. In Maggie Keswick (edited) 85-102. 1986. The Commercial Revolution in Nineteenth-Century China: The Rise of Sino-Western Mercantile Capitalism. Berkeley: University of California Press. Hayes, James. 1979. The Nam Pak Hong Commercial Association of Hong Kong. In Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. 19/2 16-26. 1984. Collecting Business Papers of Chinese Enterprises in Hong Kong. In Research Materials for Hong Kong Studies 47-55. Edited by Alan Birch. Hong Kong: Centre of Asian Studies, University of Hong Kong. He, Wenxiang. 1989. Xianggang Jiezushi (History of Hong Kong's big families). Hong Kong. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1991 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/k356gt84j 36 Kong, Capital Communications Lid Ho, Ping-ti 1966a. Zhongguo huiguan shilun (On the history of Landsmannschaften in China). Taibei, Shihuo Chubanshe. 1966b. The Geographical Distribution of Hui-kuan (Landsmannschaften) in Central Upper Yangtze Provinces. In Tsing Hua Journal of Chinese Studies 5/2 120-52 Honig, Emily. 1992. Creating Chinese Ethnicity Subet People in Shanghai 1850-1980. New Haven and London, Yale University Press. Hunter, William C 1882 'Fan Kwae' at Canton Before Treaty Days, 1825-1844, London Kegan Paul, Trench & Co King, Frank H. H. 1983. edited. Eastern Banking Essays in the History of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation London, Athlone Press Keswick, Maggie 1982. The Thistle and the Jade: A Celebration of 150 Years of Jardine, Matherson & Company London, Octopus. Lai, Chi-kong. 1992 The Qing State and Merchant Enterprise: the China Merchants' Company, 1872-1902. In Jane K. Leonard (edited) 139-56. Lee, Pui Tak. 1990 Kindai Chugoku ni okeru kōsho Kigyō no rekishi teki tenkai Kanyahyōkōshi wo jirei toshite (The historical Origins of Commercial and Industrial Enterprises in China, the Case of Han-yeh-p'ing Coal & Iron Company Limited, 1896-1991) M Litt. Thesis. University of Tokyo. Leonard, Jane K 1992. edited; To Achieve Wealth and Security, the Qing Imperial State and the Economy, 1644-1911. Ithaca, East Asia Program, Cornell University Leung, Yuensang 1982 Regional Rivalry in Mid-nineteenth Century Shanghai. Cantonese vs Ningpo Men. In Ch'ing-shih wen-t'i: 4/8; 29-50. 1986. The Shanghai-Tientsin Connection. Li Hung-chang's Political Control over Shanghai during the Late Ch'ing Period In Chinese Studies 4/1 315-31 1990 The Shanghai Taotai: Linkage Man in a Changing Society, 1843-90 Singapore. National Singapore University Press Liu, Kwang-ching 1979 Credit Facilities in China's Early Industrialization The Background and Implications of Hsu Jun's Bankruptcy in 1883. In Modern Chinese Economic History 499-509, Edited by Chiming Hou Taibei, Institute of Economics, Academia Sinica 1982 A Chinese Entrepreneur In Maggie Keswick (edited) 103-30. — 1990. Jinshi Shixuang yu Xincheng Qiye (The new thoughts and modern enterprises) Taibei, Lianjing Chuban Shiye Gongsi Mann, Susan Jones 1972. Finance in Ningpo the 'Ch'ien Chuang', 1750-1880 In W E. Willmott (edited) 47-78 1974 The Ningpo Pang and Financial Power at Shanghai In Mark Elvin & G. William Skinner (edited) 73-96 — 1976. Merchant Investment, Commercialization, and Social Change in the Ningpo Area In Reform in Nineteenth-Century China 41-8. Edited by Paul A, Cohen Cambridge and Massachusetts, Harvard University Press. McElderry, Andrea Lee 1992 Guarantors and Guarantees in Qing Government-Bussiness Relations In Jane K. Leonard (edited) 119-38 1993 Guarantors in China's Treaty Ports the Evolution of Employee Bonding Unpublished paper presented at the 34th International Congress on Asian and North African Studies, Hong Kong Mei, June 1979 Socioeconomic Origins of Emigration Guangdong to California, 1850-1882 In Explorations in Economic History 7/4 451-73 Qing Xu Yuzhi xiansheng ruḥ zixu nianpu (Chronological autobiography of Xu Run) Reprinted in 1981 Quan, Hansheng 1972 Zhongguo Jingjishi luncong (Collected essays on Chinese economic ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1991 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/k356gt84j 39 the Kuan Lineage in K'ai-p'ing County. Ann Arbor, Center for Chinese Studies, University of Michigan. Wright, Arnold 1908 Twentieth Century Impressions of Hongkong, Shanghai, and other Treaty Ports of China their history, people commerce, industries, and resources London, Lloyd's Greater Britain Publishing Company. Ltd Wu, Chang-chuan 1974 Cheng Kuan-ying A Case Study of Merchant Participation in the Chinese Self-strengthening Movement (1878-1884) PhD thesis Columbia University Xia, Dongyuan. 1982 Zheng Guanying ji (Collected materials of Zheng Guanying) Volume I Shanghai, Shanghai Renmin Chubanshe 1985a Wanqing yangwu yundong yanjiu (A study of self-strengthening movement of late Qing China) Chengdu, Sichuan Renmin chubanshe 1985b. Zheng Guanying zhuan (A biography of Zheng Guanying) Revised edition Shanghai, Huadong Shifan Daxue Chubanshe 1988a, Zheng Guanying ji (Collected materials of Zheng Guanying) Volume II Shanghai, Shanghai Renmin Chubanshe 1988b. Sheng Xuanhuai zhuan (A biography of Sheng Xuanhuai) Chengdu, Sichuan Renmin Chubanshe Xu, Dingxin 1991 Shanghai zongshanghui-shi 1902-1929 (A history of Shanghai Chamber of Commerce). Shanghai, Shanghai Shehui Kexueyuan Chubanshe Yamagami, Kan'ichi 1938 Sekko zaibatsu-ron so no kihonteki kōsatsu (A discussion of Zhejiang financial magnates its basic observation) Tokyo. Nihon Hyōronsha Yu, Qixing 1970 Wu Tingfang yu Xiangkang zhi guanxi (The relations of Wu Tingfang with Hong Kong). In Shou Luo Xianglin Jiaoshou Lunwenji Hong Kong, Wanyou Tushu Gongsi 255-78. Zhang, Wenqin, 1984. Cong fengnan guanshang dao maiban shangren Qingdai Guangdong hangshang Wu Yihe jiazu de pouxi (From feudal official merchant to comprador An analysis of the family of howqua of the Guangdong hong merchants in the Qing). In Jindaishi Yanjiu 1984/3 167-97. 1984/4 231-53 1989 Cong fengjian guanshang dao maiban guanliao Wu Jianzhang shilun (From feudal official merchant to compradorial bureaucrat An analysis and discussion on Wu Jianzhang). In Jindaishi Yanjiu 1989/5 31-54 Zhejiangji zibenjia de xingqi (The rise of Zhejiang clique of entrepreneurs) Edited by Zhongguo Renmin Zhengzhi Xieshang Huiyi Zhejiang-sheng Weiyuanhui Wenshi Ziliao Yanjiu Weiyuanhui Hangzhou, Zhejiang Renmin Chubanshe, 1986. Zou, Yiren 1980 Jiu Shanghai renkou bianqian de yanjiu (A study of evolution of the population of old Shanghai) Shanghai, Renmin Chubanshe ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1992 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x 6 during his first journey into the interior from Hankow to begin his career with one of the new local armies of the Chinese Imperial forces. Potted biographies of Mesny have been little more than loosely connected accounts of the major incidents in his life and have presented a one-dimensional figure. Had he not been made a general in the Chinese Imperial Army with which he served for a mere six years, the other forty-five years of his life would probably have merited 300 words towards the foot of the obituaries page in a local paper. Also, without the four volumes of his Miscellany, which tend to be our sole source-material, virtually all record of his service with the Chinese army would have been lost. For at least part of his life Mesny lived at one end of an extreme, as a westerner who dressed as a Chinese, lived in a Chinese home and absorbed Chinese ways semi-consciously. The other end of the extreme were the westerners who lived out their working lives in treaty ports moving from office to club to home, and making sure that they never had any contacts with the natives nor learnt a single word of their language. He seems to have been an engaging character, though pretentious and extravagant, whose fascinating life, although insignificant in the run of Chinese history, was no more exciting or unique than many other westerners who led equally exciting lives on the China coast during the same era, the difference being that remarkably few wrote about them and those who did were usually fairly staid travellers describing their journeys across the Chinese empire. Mesny went several stages further, writing notes and autobiographical essays. Many were self-serving memoirs, which he published in Shanghai in his own periodical, the four volumes of Mesny's Chinese Miscellanies [described in detail in Appendix A] consisting not only of events within China, especially ones he considered important insofar as they affected his personal life and activities but also, more importantly, colourful observations during the second half of the 19th century in China reflecting the atmosphere, the social and military structures of the lower echelons of Chinese officialdom, foreign fortune seekers during the earlier days of the Treaty Ports and also, to a certain extent, the social life of the middle strata of foreigners on the China coast. Although he did not fully appreciate it, his notes on the Chinese military forces at that time and in particular the day-to-day details of military operations within a Chinese provincial army are unique. Although certain colour emerges from the foreign news telegrams of the day reproduced in his later volumes, it is singularly disappointing that he wrote so little on the momentous changes occurring in China at the turn of the century. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1992 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x 8 regular references to his deep knowledge of things Chinese and in particular, their formal rituals. As with many foreign writers on China and the Chinese, Mesny frequently implied exclusive access to hidden corners. This was indisputable because, whilst most foreigners who pride themselves on having Chinese friends and have visited them at home, even perhaps having stayed with them, few have the opportunity afforded to Mesny when he served with the Chinese military forces and lived as one with them on the staff. However, in retrospect we can see that Mesny knew little of the private life, thoughts and policies of the native Chinese higher classes, or more importantly, of the ruling Manchus, simply through his lack of access. The great majority of foreigners in China were dependent upon what they could glean from their native interpreters whose depth of understanding was limited by their lack of knowledge, especially about state policies. Such people as Mesny, foreigners who spoke and read Chinese and had Chinese contacts, were one up on the foreigners who heavily depended upon their Chinese employees, but for Mesny to maintain his credibility with possible foreign investors he had to clutch at any crumb from the tables of the great and worthy, hence his repeated name dropping. It is also well nigh impossible to judge simply from his own account of events the extent to which Mesny understood the power politics of senior Chinese Imperial military officers or the nuances of the accusations aimed at a number of the generals. If he did, then his poignant description of the removal and demotion of his own Commander-in-chief from his command in Kueichou is very sympathetic. Shanghai, where Mesny spent many of his later years, was one of the first Treaty Ports, opened in 1842, and by the turn of the century the largest foreign settlement in the East with a western population of many thousands. Mesny spent all but five of his last thirty-three years in the city. A Briton, Oliver Ready3, writing in 1904 of the time when Mesny first reached China said, 'Forty odd years ago, at the close of the second great war [i.e. 1860, the year in which Mesny reached the China coast], China was a veritable Eldorado for Europeans, where all turned to gold beneath the slightest touch of alien hands. Fortunes were made with startling rapidity, and money came in so freely that the standard of living amongst foreign merchants and their employees reached such preposterous heights of luxuriousness, that even when the inevitable reaction set in, want, and even ruin, supervened where plenty should have been found. Forty years ago the foreign trade was practically monopolised by Englishmen, who only had to place their goods on the market of ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1992 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x 9 any newly-opened port for them to be snatched up and at almost any price by Chinese merchants..... until the Chinese purchaser came to close quarters with the English importer, eliminating middlemen at small ports and to transferring operations chiefly to the great emporiums of Hong Kong and Shanghai.' Hankow was the other city in which, on and off, Mesny spent a dozen or so years and where eventually he died, a city on the north bank of the Yangtze, part of the three-city metropolis now known as Wuhan. It was the major commercial port in central China during the second half of the 19th century, containing British, German, Russian, Japanese and French settlements, known as Concessions. Hankow was opened as a treaty port in 1861, a year before Mesny arrived there and became famous abroad as the start of the annual tea-clipper race back to England. The province of Kueichou in south-west China, where Mesny also spent a number of years was one of the most backward areas of China. It had been under Chinese rule since the Han at about the time of Christ, but only became a separate province during the Ming, in AD 1413. Waves of Chinese immigration, mainly from neighbouring Szechuan and Hunan provinces, forced the non-Chinese minority tribesmen out of the fertile valleys leading eventually to discontent and finally rebellion. Mesny's story is illuminating in a number of respects. There were always foreigners who took up minor posts with the Chinese bureaucracy, particularly during the modernisation campaigns which took place during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Old photographs exist showing foreigners in, for example, a Chinese arsenal beside foreign machinery or weapons, both as advisers and trainers, but few ever wrote of their experiences. The most interesting part of Mesny's life, however, standing out as a unique experience, was the short period of some five to six years when he served with two provincial forces of the Chinese Imperial Army on active service helping suppress a rising of the Miao, a subjugated minority race in a remote part of southern China. [See Appendix C for a summary of the first campaign against the Miao in which Mesny took part]. Probably the most interesting part of these narratives is the reasonably detailed description of Chinese soldiering during this relatively minor campaign. It is full of anecdotal descriptions of campaigning in central south China against a redoubtable foe, the Miao people, though regrettably Mesny fails to go into detail about such interesting subjects as how he was paid, how patronage worked up to him personally, etc. He does, however, cover a number of themes in his Notes on the ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1992 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x The Boxer Rebellion in north China in 1900, which involved the massacre of some western missionaries and a siege of the Legation area in Peking, did not reach as far south as Shanghai, though in his curriculum vitae Mesny mentions 'Volunteered for service at Peking 1900'. Unfortunately, we do not know whether his service was accepted or what he did during that period. The Chinese Imperial government survived these rebellions but slowly became even weaker as the years went by. Western nations also took full advantage of Chinese imperial weakness until in 1911 the Revolution overthrew the imperial government and established a very weak republic which, after some further thirty or so years of both inner turmoil and invasion by the Japanese, ended with the Communist victory. Mesny lived through the first eight years of the Republic, and though they were stirring times, he must have had many nostalgic memories of his prowess and success in the Chinese imperial army, particularly in the latter days of the suppression of the Miao rebels, and the time when he was a prisoner of the Taipings, features which make his eye-witness accounts of value today. Mesny lived in a China which followed a predominantly masculine routine. The majority of foreigners were either isolated loners or members of small groups in remote parts of China, or they lived in treaty ports, enclaves in which the relative comfort of 'home', friends, and social occasions made life bearable, even though foreign women tended to live circumscribed and artificial lives. However, his accounts lack such intimate detail of his and his family's lives. Despite the autobiographical notes in the Miscellany, not only in segments but selective in the extreme, Mesny remains somewhat of an elusive person, and, as none of his letters appear to have survived, much of his personal life would seem to be largely irrecoverable. His enigmatic snippets about his Chinese family are such that they do little more than fuel guesswork. We still lack an account of Mesny's private life in his later years, one in which we might hear the voices of his wives and children as clearly as those of the senior officers we have been provided in the Miscellanies, of the senior Chinese officers during the Kueichou campaign. Much of the raw material provided by Mesny contains stark, bald statements which leave loose ends and strands which we cannot gather together without straying into the realms of guesswork. Regrettably, there would appear to be little chance of ever satisfying our curiosity from... ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1992 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x 46 His essays on his soldiering days consist of strings of facts and incidents, strong on action but showing little attempt at analysis or motives. He often managed to mingle action scenes with romanticised ones. According to his writings he, at 26, displayed strategic and tactical wisdom which his seniors, experienced Chinese generals greeted with acclaim, or so Mesny would have us believe. He lived in exciting times and enjoyed experiences worthy of being recorded for posterity. A case in point is his description of the incidents when twice in a twelve month period he had to call on British gun boats to deliver him from the hands of Chinese captors. The first was the deliverance from the 'Imps' [the Chinese Imperial forces] at the forts below Nanking and the second from the Taiping rebels at Nanking itself. His description of his experiences living with the Taiping rebels, of life in a treaty port and his explanations of, for example, the process of the literary and military degree examinations in China and the organisation of the Tsung-li Yamen [The Chinese Bureau of Foreign Affairs] are fascinating even if some of the material has been copied from other works, and some of the autobiographical episodes seem at times to be exaggerated or 'edited'. An article in The Pilot [July 1946] claimed that Mesny had served under General Gordon during the Taiping rebellion as a lieutenant and, when Gordon returned to England in 1865, Mesny remained on in the Chinese army. This would seem to have been misunderstood folk memory as it is certain that, if such had been the case, Mesny would have described it during his autobiographical essays in the Miscellanies. His love life with Chinese ladies also at times reads like a Mills and Boon novel, but however much we may smile at his amorous memoirs, the military side of his autobiographical essays ring true throughout. Mesny wrote about himself as if he needed the constant repetition to reassure him of his place in society and perhaps history, and was frustrated by the lack of influence he considered his due. In March 1905 Mesny wrote that scarcely a day passed but that he was asked to adjudge of important matters between Chinese and Chinese. He added that he did not always comply though his Chinese rank was sufficient as an excuse to act as a judge. He certainly saw himself as a bridge between Chinese and foreigners, and appeared to have many nodding acquaintances in both societies. A number of foreign authors describing China as they saw it around the turn of the last century each in turn complimented other writers ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1992 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x 101 each harnessed and stripped to the waist, fighting the torrent. Treaty ports: Ports opened to foreign trade and residence under what the Chinese have always regarded as 'unequal treaties'. Tsung-li Yamen : The Foreign Affairs Bureau of the late Ch'ing dynasty, established after the capture of Peking in 1860 by the Allied forces. It was the channel of communication between foreign Ministers resident in Peking and the throne. Tsung-tu #: the Viceroy or Governor-General of one or more provinces within which he had the general control of all civil and military affairs and was subject only to the throne. Wai-sing Lottery: lit: examination of names, a kind of sweepstake, once a very popular form of gambling amongst the Cantonese, on the result of the public examination for the second degree. The holder of a successful candidate's name being the winner of a greater or lesser sum according to position on the published list. Wei-yuan A: a delegate staff officer, a special delegate or Expectant Appointee on ad hoc duty. White Lily Sect [Pai-lien Chiao] was a more serious rebellion at the end of the eighteenth century. This secret society, originally founded in opposition to Mongol domination several centuries earlier, had been revived in order to get rid of the alien Manchu rule of the Ch'ing dynasty. It broke out in western Hupei in 1796 and for nearly nine years taxed China's resources to the utmost. Although Mesny was not involved his and their paths crossed on occasion. Yamen : The official and private residence of any 'mandarin', officials who held a seal, a government office. Ying #: usually a battalion but not uncommonly, a force of a number of battalions. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1994 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g 120 The First China War was the culmination of many years of irksome restraint. The British, as did other nations, objected strongly to being treated and listed with Burma, Vietnam and Korea as tribute bearers. The immediate cause was the destruction of all the opium in Canton brought in by foreigners and in 1840 the Chinese fleet attacked a British warship, followed by, amongst other incidents, Canton being bombarded by the British, and the war was on. Palmerston was Prime Minister in Britain during this, the First China War, now possibly better known as the first of the two Opium Wars. It began with a desultory naval engagement and little further happened until Major General Sir Hugh Gough arrived from Madras in March of 1841. The British plan was, first, to capture Chusan island off the coast of Chekiang to use as a pawn in the demand for Chinese agreements to British demands. This proved to be a futile gesture and during 1841 and 1842 British forces, with the continued aim of pressuring the Chinese into legitimising foreign trade within China, proceeded to attack several ports one after the other up the China coast, creeping ever further north towards the capital of Peking, causing the Chinese greater apprehension about the future. The campaign eventually ended with the imminent attack on Nanking, the former capital situated on the Yangtze in central China, avoided last minute by the agreement by the Chinese finally to the terms of a treaty signed in August 1842. One of the attacks on the China coast was on the then city of Chapu, which was to be followed up with an attack on Hangchou. Chapu had a tolerable harbour, with a great rise and fall of tide, so much so that the smaller junks were left high and dry at low water. Together with its suburbs the town, perhaps five miles in circuit built in a square and intersected by numerous canals, lay about half a mile from the coast. The Reverend Gutzlaff in his third voyage up the China coast in January 1833 arrived in Chapu and described the surrounding countryside as the Chinese Arcadia with nothing able to exceed its beautiful and picturesque appearance. He further described the canals, neat roads, plantations and conspicuous buildings, adding that the whole country (of China) from the Yellow River south was flat until one came to the high lands which formed the harbour of Chapu city. The sea, he added, was receding from the land and flats had formed along the shore, visible at low water and constituting a barrier to the whole coast. Gutzlaff found nowhere so much openness and kindness, the (residents') intelligent questions respecting Britain were endless with them never seeming to be satiated with (British) company. I ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1994 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g 139 Journal, this set out the basis on which the Hong Kong Branch of the Society had operated during its 30 years' existence. It explained our independent status and self-financing within an approved constitution; how we operated with complete freedom of action, without our activities being controlled, directed or restricted by the present government in any way; and mentioned the willingness of our guest speakers, and the cooperation of all the persons and institutions visited during our local tours. I emphasized that these were all vital elements in the Society's successful operation, and that they rested on the personal freedoms enjoyed in contemporary Hong Kong, stating in conclusion, that I hoped they would continue after 1997 and enable our Society to continue with its role as a cultural interpreter of Hong Kong and China to (in the main but not exclusively) the territory's expatriate population, 20 Chinese Membership of the Hong Kong Branch One of the interesting features of any voluntary society is undoubtedly its membership. A glance through the RAS membership lists for the 1960s, supplemented by my recollections of those years, indicates that the membership was widely distributed among the non-Chinese population, and that quite a number of them had been resident in pre-war China and Shanghai, the headquarters of the former North China Branch of the Society. There was a sizable Chinese component too, again largely with a Shanghai connection. The standard of English among members of that group and their knowledge and appreciation of Western culture, had struck me as being very high, perhaps even generally superior to the level among our Hong Kong Chinese members today. Educators in Hong Kong have agreed for years that, whilst the quantity of English-speakers in the population has increased, quality has not kept pace. However, such comparisons are facile, and not really helpful. It has to be remembered that English-speaking Chinese of the time were generally older and had belonged to another era and a very different world. Those able to acquire Western languages and culture in those now far-off days often came from families that were comfortably off, or even wealthy, well able to provide their offspring with an overseas education, or at schools and universities in the International Settlement at Shanghai, the main Treaty Ports, or in Hong Kong. The percentage of Chinese members in the Hong Kong Branch has never been high, amounting to not more than 15% to 20% and sometimes ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1994 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g 166 Hai Journal, no 12 | August 1981, pp 191-201) 1 Lo Hsiang-lin, Hong Kong and Its External Communications Before 1842 The History of Hong Kong Prior to British Arrival (Hong Kong Institute of Chinese Culture, 1963) Barbara Ward, "Rediscovering our social and cultural heritage", Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, (JHKBRAS) 20, pp 116-124, p 124 See Jack Potter Capitalism and the Chinese Peasant. Social and Economic Change in a Hong Kong Village (Berkeley, Calif University of California Press, 1968) He contradicts the theory that the industry and commerce of the treaty ports were the principal reasons for the bankruptcy of the Chinese countryside by showing how in Ping Shan, the effects of capitalism were beneficial to peasants. James Hayes, The Hong Kong Region 1850-1911. Institutions and Leadership in Town and Countryside (Hamden, Connecticut Archon Books, 1972), The Rural Communities of Hong Kong Studies and Themes (Hong Kong Oxford University Press, 1983), Tsuen Wan Growth of a New Town and Its People (Hong Kong Oxford University Press, 1993) 7 For the special nature of the District Officer's duties, see Austin Coates, Myself a Mandarin Memoirs of a Special Magistrate (Hong Kong Heinemann, 1975) Selina Ching Chan, "Tradition Inherited, Traditional Reinterpreted. A Chinese Lineage in the 1990s", (Unpublished Ph D thesis, Oxford University, 1995) Alan Birch and Martin Cole, Captive Years the Occupation of Hong Kong 1941-45 (Hong Kong Heinemann, 1982) and Captive Christmas (Hong Kong. Heinemann, 1979) 10 Most of the Rev Smith's work was published in articles in various, often obscure, journals, but more recently they have been collected in anthologies - Chinese Christians, Middlemen and the Church in Hong Kong (Hong Kong Oxford University Press, 1985) and A Sense of History Studies in the Social and Urban History of Hong Kong (Hong Kong Educational Publishing Co, 1995) See especially, DJ Dwyer (ed) The Changing Face of Hong Kong. Proceedings of a Weekend Symposium of the Royal Asiatic Society, Hong Kong Branch (Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. 1971) 12 Editorial, JHKBRAS, vol 7(1967)pp 1-3,p 2 13 PH Hase and Elizabeth Sinn (eds) Beyond the Metropolis Villages in Hong Kong (Hong Kong Joint Publishing (HK) Ltd, 1995) 14 Marjorie Topley, (comp) "Anthropology and Sociology in Hong Kong Field Projects and Problems of Overseas Scholars" Proceedings of a Symposium, February 8-9, 1969 (Hong Kong Centre of Asian Studies, University of Hong Kong, 1969) See Ian Diamond, "The Paper Chase - Archives and the Public Records Office of Hong Kong" ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1995 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/95941j25g 119 adapted This pamphlet, costing a penny or two, was continually in the hands of servants, coolies and shopkeepers. The author was a Chinaman whose ingenuity should immortalize him. I have often wondered who the man was who first reduced the "outlandish tongue" to a current language. Red candles should be burnt on altars erected to his memory, and oblations of tea poured out before his image, placed among the wooden gods which in temples surround the shrine of a deified man of letters. F Accepting this widely-reported account of the "Devil's Talk" pamphlet to be correct, it is easy to understand how the vocabulary became established; after all, to the classically-trained Chinese mind, what appears in print becomes canon law. For fussy English-speakers to correct something which had been laid down in a Chinese textbook would have been no easy undertaking. Be quite clear on one point. Throughout the period of the Hong merchants and up to Treaty days, Pidgin English was not merely a means of communication between Europeans and their menials. It was a vital tool in a rapidly growing China trade in the southern Chinese ports. Hunter describes his discussions in Pidgin with the famous Hong merchants—How Qua, Ming Qua, and Pan Kei Qua—among the commercial elite of Canton. Hunter also describes one of the commanders of the Tai-Ping Rebels, Ho A-Luh, as speaking very good Pidgin English. By the middle of the nineteenth century, China Coast Pidgin had become a well-established medium of communication. From the 1850s on, the restrictions to foreign trade and traders progressively broke down, so that the conditions which had made Pidgin's development a necessity disappeared. But the opportunities for contacts between European and Chinese people increased, and the conventions of the language were well enough engrained that it survived. The young makee-larns gradually progressed in their mastery of English, while the people with transient contacts—tradesmen and servants—picked up where they had left off. In his book “Rambles in Eastern Asia”, B. L. Ball records: “I saw a Chinaman who spoke good English, and appeared so polite that I stopped a while, and entered into conversation with him. Page 150 Page 151 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1996 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641 200 The influence of these western-educated Cantonese extended northward in the 1860s when western firms such as Jardine and Swire established their branch offices in the newly opened Treaty ports — Shanghai in 1850, Fuzhou in 1854 and Hankou in 1861. It was in these new Treaty ports that the Cantonese recognized that a new job market in politics was open to them. A "Western Affairs Movement” was initiated by several powerful provincial officials in China by the 1870s. Under the patronage of these officials, economic and legal reforms were introduced into China in the name of westernization. These officials who rose to power after suppressing the Taiping Rebellion without Beijing's support, developed huge business enterprises in the name of the "official supervision — merchant management” or “western-affairs movement". The Hong Kong compradores were mainly responsible for the collection of capital. Their credibility came not from the enterprises they set up, with or without the legal backing of a company law, but from their own reputation as well as the political patronage behind them. Amidst the rhetoric of these western affairs movements, “reform-minded" officials recruited their own advisors and set up their own personal governments, known as Mufu, literally, tent government, or what we now call think-tanks. Many Cantonese, with or without imperial degrees, were sought to fill these posts. The strength of this “Cantonese party” rested on their early access to things western — the "Cantonese faction established predominance in China's internal affairs and foreign relations... [their strength] lies in the monopoly in the matter of emigration overseas ... Before 1840, Canton was the only port open to foreign traders”. On how these think-tank members were appointed, westerners observed that: in the exercise of patronage... the principle is that which animated Washington in the selection of his first cabinet. Latterly the Canton party, ultra-progressive, has come to the front. In the 1870s amidst this rhetoric of westernization, and with the assistance of western-educated Cantonese, the "reform-minded" officials managed to bargain with Beijing and develop huge business enterprises under their patronage. In an environment where company law and stock markets were absent, these reform-minded officials started these modern enterprises under an arrangement known as the ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1996 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641 210 Kong and the British Consul to act as arbitrators.” The Governor could not conceal his excitement. To persuade London to accept this proposal, the Governor quoted from earlier information that he received from someone he believed to be very close to President Yuan: [The President said] as the state of things in Canton was so desperate, the only course open was for the Canton Government to ask for foreign intervention and to get the Canton province run as the customs are run: for a limited period of 20 to 30 years. To help this proposal to get through in London and Beijing, the Governor of Hong Kong telegraphed his British colleagues in the treaty ports for assistance. Sir Jordan recorded that his part in this scheme was "to induce President [Yuan] to accept this principle and instruct Canton accordingly". This scheme, however, failed to materialize because the influence of Liang Shiyi in Beijing declined suddenly in face of his political competition with the Anhui military men, another group of supporters of Yuan. To save its decline, the Communication Clique was driven to support Yuan's monarchical movement, a move which proved to be a political disaster for the Communication Clique. The majority of them had a narrow escape to Japan or Hong Kong after the fall of Yuan. The worse for the Cantonese was yet to come. After the death of Yuan, Sun Yat-sen, together with Wu Tingfang returned to Canton from Shanghai and declared a new constitutional government in the South. Without an army under his control, he brought with him a guest army from Guangxi. I quote from a memoir of a Guangxi general that: They really look awful! This same uniform had been worn through a war and a hot summer & in most cases had been worn to rags. Without needle or thread, many soldiers simply used grass to fasten the torn [pieces] together; the entire army was in a state of near-starvation... He explained the difficulty of his army and how the army was formed: When the anti-Yuan movement had started, local armies were ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1998 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794 131 Not only did he write many of the Journal's editorials but also in each edition a number of miscellaneous articles on subjects ranging from hunting in Manchuria and boating as a holiday to the Hall of Antiquities in the Hude Museum in Shanghai - a pet project of his, as well as Scientific Notes and Reviews. His editorials ranged from Shanghai's Position in the World to China's New Industrialisation. A typical editorial described the colossal task facing the leaders of China's Republic and, as the years passed, so his editorials became more and more anti-Japanese. In the great age of European self-confidence these editorials reflected the general mood of expatriates not only in the Treaty Ports but also within the hinterland of China. None of this necessarily precluded a measure of genuine interest in Chinese culture though he, himself, appears not to have been a convinced ‘Orientalist.' He covered a vast range of subjects under broad-brush headings Engineering, Industrial and Commercial Notes; Scientific Notes and Reviews; Educational Notes and Intelligence and Travel and Exploration Notes. A number of articles written by people whose names have come down to us as authors of well-known books such as Florence Ayscough, L.C. Arlington, Juliet Bredon and James Hutson appeared in the Journal over the years. It would be impossible to list here many of the articles and papers printed issue by issue ranging as they did from tea to river craft, secret societies to criticisms on the Shanghai local artists exhibitions as well as descriptions of expeditions into the interior With Kua-tzu and Camera in the Yangtze Gorges by H. Foote-Carey and in 1923 - Investigation of the Thermal Dissociation of Hydrated Alumo-silicates, Prehnite, Zoisite and Epidote by E. Norin of the Nystrøm Institute, Taiyuan Fu, Shansi. In early 1938 Arthur and his wife, Clarice, sold their interest in the China Journal to a new company called "The China Journal Publishing Company Limited" based at 117 Hong Kong Road, Shanghai, accepting part of the purchase price in shares of the new company. There were now three directors, H.J. Timperley, A. de C. Sowerby and H.J. Freyn. The manager at that point was a Mr. W.V.D. White with Clarice Moise no longer referred to on the staff of the Journal. Then, on 7 December 1941, after Pearl Harbour, men of the Japanese navy broke into the offices and destroyed everything, including the files, mailing lists, back numbers, and that was the end of the China Journal. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1998 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794 147 PLUM PUDDINGS AND SHARP BOYS “ONE TOUCH OF NATURE MAKES THE WHOLE WORLD KIN” AN ANALYSIS OF THE CHINA COVERAGE IN THE ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEWS,1 5 JANUARY TO 23 SEPTEMBER 18612 GILLIAN B. BICKLEY3 Whether or not the British public had a particular interest in China before 1861, it is impossible that their interest can not have been heightened by the stirring diplomatic news coming out from China in the last days of 1860 and the early days of 1861. This raised interest was further fuelled by the human interest touches written into features appearing over the next several months, and by the media's developing focus on a desire for a better understanding between the British and Chinese peoples. What British readers could have known previously about events in China was briefly as follows. After the signing of the Treaty of Tientsin on 26 June 1858, the Allied land force of Britain and France had evacuated Tientsin on 6 July without any force having been sent – even as a token – to the Chinese capital, Peking. It was generally considered, however, that the retirement of the troops was premature and that eventually a force would have to be sent to Peking to prove that the allies had established their positions in China. The expected peace demanded under the Treaty did not materialise. Small attacks continued to be made by armed parties on British occupied positions. On 8 January 1859, correspondence was found which confirmed that the Emperor had no intention of keeping the Treaty, and had in fact issued orders that the British were to be prevented from entering the Pei-ho River and trading on the Yangtse, contrary to the provisions of the Treaty. In June 1859, the British fleet escorting Lord Elgin, the first British Minister, to Peking, to exchange the ratifications, was brought up sharp by the forts at Takoo, at the entrance to the Peiho River. Men and material were lost, and there was grave damage to prestige. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1998 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794 155 ity of the released allied prisoners themselves in a note which states that "those who were restored to liberty gave their share of the indemnity money to the families of the murdered captives.” 58. In the later issues of The Illustrated London News during this period, there is also a continuing attempt to add to the readers' knowledge of China, as for instance, the brief explanation given on 4 May 1861: "The capital of the Chinese empire contains a great number of palaces and temples decorated with numerous works in marble; but a considerable portion of the area of the city is occupied by squares, gardens, ponds, and even fields. Pekin consists... of two cities, one named the Tartar, and the other the Chinese, besides twelve populous suburbs. The Tartar or Northern City is divided into three distinct parts - a central block called the prohibited city, containing the Imperial palace and the grounds belonging to it; the Imperial city, surrounding it; and the General city. In this last division are situated the university buildings and those of the Russian mission." 59 The cover story of The Illustrated London News on 13 April 1861 carried in response to the return of Lord Elgin from China (his wife had travelled to Marseilles to meet him) is interesting for three things: its recapitulation of the causes of the recent hostilities; its discussion of the considerations that the writer represented as having been weighed during the recent hostilities; and its tribute to Lord Elgin's moral qualities: "No disaster of modern times ever excited a more stinging feeling of chagrin in this country than that which occurred at the mouth of the Peiho to the allied squadron intended to give both dignity and protection to the British and French Embassies to Pekin. [The reference is to Elgin's earlier attempt to make his way up to Peking, in June 1859, and the defeat of the British navy at the Takoo Forts, referred to above.] It took the public wholly by surprise. It appeared to destroy at a blow all the fruits which we were preparing to gather from the Tien-tsin Treaty. It inflicted a lamentable loss of life. It seriously damaged the prestige of our arms throughout the East. It threw us once more into the midst of the difficulties and uncertainties necessarily attendant upon a war carried on at a distance of 15,000 miles, with an immensely populous, although an essentially unwarlike, empire. It conjured up before us a vague prospect, equally perplexing and inglorious - perplexing, for who could tell by what means and at what risk the Imperial Court could best be reached and reduced to reason? – inglorious, ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1998 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794 158 days later, coincidentally, on 23 September 1861, a small postscript to the China coverage of The Illustrated London News established that there was indeed a link between Hong Kong and British actions in China. The item took the form of an illustration of a Monument to the Royal Marines, erected in the Cemetery at "Hong Kong, China". In explanation of the illustration, it read: “The front inscription is as follows; 'In memory of the officers, non-commissioned officers, buglers, and privates of the Brigade of Royal Marines (Light Infantry); and the non-commissioned officers, buglers, and gunners of the battery of Royal Marine Artillery, who fell in the execution of their duty in China during the years 1857, 1858, 1859, and 1860. Erected by their comrades.' The slab on the right-hand side gives the names of three officers and 48 men killed in action; whilst that on the left shows the total loss from all causes to have been 257; and the numbers wounded were 27 officers, 16 sergeants, 20 corporals, four buglers, and 155 gunners and privates. The rear slab records the services of the brigade, from the taking of Canton in Dec. 1857, with the various expeditions in the neighbourhood, the Taku Forts in 1859, the defence of Shanghai, and the brilliant campaign in the north, which ended in the Treaty of Peking on Oct. 24, 1860." Hong Kong, SAR, China At midnight, 30 June 1997, Hong Kong was returned by Britain to China. The Monument to the Marines "who fell in the execution of their duty in China during the Years 1857, 1858, 1859, and 1860" still stands, known only to the few Hong Kong residents today who take an interest in things of the past. And to most of these few, the past events which the Monument records are too distant in ethos as well as in time even to be uncomfortable; but are felt rather as irremediably alien. This brief survey and commentary on the contemporary China coverage in one British periodical during the period 5 January to 23 September 1861 may perhaps offer reassurance that, like us today, the contemporary British public before, during and after Lord Elgin's China Campaign was also more comfortable when the soldiers could come ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1998 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794 208 nior Inspector of Nuisances' and the 'Instructions to Head Watchmen and Watchmen' are of importance in this current study and, since the duties of the Watchmen contained in these instructions are so different from those originally envisaged by the creators of the District Watch scheme, their relevant parts are reproduced at the end of this paper. Before continuing with a discussion of the District Watchmen's role in sanitary inspections, some explanation of the word 'nuisance' is appropriate. In the context of Victorian Britain, the term 'nuisance' implied something much more than the modern milder meaning of 'pest' or 'irritant.' 'Nuisance' was a general term to describe anything noxious which would offend the senses, whether these were sight, sound, smell or touch. Brenda Yeoh, in her study of colonial Singapore, describes it as 'an elastic term which encompassed many possibilities from filthy premises to undesirable animals.' She further mentions the comprehensive list of nuisances in The Acts and Ordinances of the Legislative Council of the Straits Settlements from 1st April 1867 to 1st June 1886 compiled by Mr C.G. Garrad which extended over two pages. Given the graver meaning of the term in the nineteenth century, it can be seen that the post of Inspector of Nuisances was much more important than might be regarded today from its title. Inspectors of Nuisances were found throughout the British Empire and also in the Treaty Port of Shanghai. 14 Returning to the removal of the District Watchmen to undertake sanitary duties, what we have here is the appropriation by the Hong Kong Government of the whole of an existing viable private security force to be used by the Government for a completely different function. Moreover, this change would incur the Government in only minimal additional expense since the bulk of the watchmen's wages would still be met by the Chinese merchants. There can be no doubt that the plan was put into operation since, in the Blue Books for 1883-85, a total of six Head District Watchmen and thirty-seven District Watchmen appeared under the heading of Sanitary (a sub-heading under Public Works Department) at an annual cost to the Government of $24 for each Head District Watchman and $12 for each District Watchman. During these three years the Chinese merchants continued to provide these men with an annual wage of $180, in the case of a Head District Watchmen, and $72 per annum for each District Watchman. The following year there appears to have been a change in policy because, in the 1886 Blue ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1998 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794 235 recently went to Siam, where he successfully concluded a trade treaty, and was now preparing for publication an account of the Siamese kingdom. His son has assembled a fine collection of insects of the local area and continues to add to it. Dr. Harland has undertaken to compile a complete fauna of Hong Kong, while Dr. Lorraine has a large collection of shells, gathered by him during his travels in America and India. Mr. Wade, the Chinese Secretary, has an impressive Chinese library and is involved in the study of the history of the reigning Chinese dynasty and informed me of a plan he had to compile a Chinese dictionary; only this plan is so immense, that one man would hardly be able to realize it. Well, that is all I know about the learned pursuits of certain individuals, living in Hong Kong. Much, undoubtedly, is undertaken in the privacy of a study and will only become known on completion. I have not said anything of the labours of missionaries: but they, on the whole, don't like to talk about their affairs. I only know, that of those living in Hong Kong many intensively study the Chinese language, not only themselves but their wives too, and I think that one can expect finer seedlings from the preaching of the latter by reason of the greater receptivity of the female nature. As for literary works, apart from several translations of holy books, every year treatises appear in Chinese and not only theological treatises, but others, which reveal to the Chinese much useful European knowledge and the latest inventions. Perhaps some of these treatises came from the pen of one of the Hong Kong missionaries. One of them, Mr. LOBSCHEID, is constantly within the Chinese border, about fifteen miles from Hong Kong, where he is engaged in practising medicine, and to those that come to him for cures from their bodily ills, he doesn't fail to point out their spiritual infirmities as well, and the only way to rid themselves of them. I had already met him in Japan, when he was on the American ship Pageton, and now saw him again in Hong Kong, where he had come for a short time. I received from him as a gift the Japanese translation of several books of the New Testament, done by whom I don't know, but as far as I do know, not quite comprehensible to the Japanese. And so, hardly had the Japanese opened a number of their ports to foreigners before the missionaries had prepared the most essential material for their conversion. One cannot demand perfection at the first attempt: it is sufficient to make some sort of inroad; in time it will become more and more even, and improved. To the charitable organizations of the town belong the hospital ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1998 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794 290 forces, and while a great argument raged between two governments as to which had jurisdiction over him, he having once claimed Chinese citizenship in order to remain in Chinese service, Burgevine was opportunely drowned by the capsizing of what the Celestials called a ferry-boat". Franck's inclusion of the word 'opportunely' is intriguing. NOTES The French, fearing a British plot to expand their influence in China, established its own foreign-trained Chinese forces in treaty ports, with the best known, the Ever-Triumphant Army [Ch'ang-chieh Chün] founded by Prosper Giquel in 1862. Franck, Harry A.: Roving through Southern China: Appleton-Century Company, New York: 1923 Although the Memorial Temple dedicated to Ward I was interested in was in Sungkiang, another similar Memorial Temple had also been built in his honour in Ningpo near where he died. Carr, Caleb: The Devil Soldier; The American Soldier of Fortune who became a God in China: Random House: New York: 1991 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1998 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794 349 that they are happy to share with all present. I learned that one can not over-estimate the time that should be spent on planning for such an event; the room allocations of those who were sharing, for example, should have been sorted out in the relative comfort of Hong Kong rather than hoping to patch things up on the day. I learned that even though we were shamelessly interested only in European colonial remains, half expecting to have to be apologetic about this to the local population, many of these remains have been carefully restored and protected. I learned that only three bars of Cadbury's chocolate are not nearly enough to sustain me during five days in China. The only real disappointment was being told that foreigners could not go and look at a 100-year old railway station, and a foreign built one at that. However, one of our members got his own back by video-taping Chinese fighter planes taking off and landing at Dalian airport whilst waiting for our flight back to Hong Kong, and doing this in full view of everybody. He was not even cautioned, let alone arrested. Which brings me back to why I took 25 people into Shantung and only brought 18 of them back. Were the others lost? Not really. Being a fairly long trip (six days/five nights) there was an option for participants to leave the tour after Weihai - which seven of them did. All the accompanying photographs with the exception of No. 1 were taken by the author. Bibliography Readers who are interested in reading more about Treaty Ports in China in general, and the places we visited in particular, might like to refer to the books the organisers of the trip used as reference: The Treaty Ports of China and Japan, Mayers, Dennys and King, pub. Trübner, London, 1867 Wanderings in China, Constance Gordon Cumming, pub. Wm Blackwood & Sons, London, 1888 The Encyclopaedia Sinica, Samuel Couling, pub. Kelly & Walsh, ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1998 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794 350 Shanghai, 1917 1933 Handbook for China, Carl Crow, pub. Kelly & Walsh, Shanghai, The Philatelic and Postal History of Hong Kong and the Treaty Ports, FW Webb, pub. Royal Philatelic Society, London, 1961 Strangers at the Gate, Frederic Wakeman Jr, pub. University of California Press, Berkeley Cal., 1966 China's Struggle for Naval Development, 1839-1895, John L Rawlinson, pub. Harvard University Press, Cambridge Mass., 1967 "The Invasion of China by the Western World”, ER Hughes, pub. Adam & Charles Black, London, 1968 The British in the Far East, George Woodcock, pub. Atheneum, New York, 1969 Trade and Diplomacy on the China Coast, John King Fairbank, pub. Stanford University Press, Stanford Cal., 1969 Western Enterprise in Late Ch'ing China, Edward LeFevour, pub. Harvard University Press, Cambridge Mass., 1970 Imperialism and Chinese Nationalism - Germany in Shantung, John E Schrecker, pub. Harvard University Press, Cambridge Mass., 1971 Nagel's Encyclopedia Guide to China, pub. Nagel, Geneva, 1980 British Mandarins and Chinese Reformers, Pamela Atwell, pub. Oxford University Press, Hong Kong, 1985 Lion and Dragon in Northern China, Reginald F Johnston, pub. Oxford University Press, Hong Kong, 1986 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1999 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x 211 "THAT SINGULAR AND HITHERTO ALMOST UNKNOWN COUNTRY"; OPINIONS ON CHINA, THE CHINESE, AND THE "OPIUM WAR” AMONG BRITISH NAVAL AND MILITARY OFFICERS WHO SERVED DURING HOSTILITIES THERE. JAMES HAYES Introduction In February 1840, the British Government advised the Qing authorities of the dispatch of an expeditionary force of troops and warships to the China Coast. Its purpose was to force the Chinese authorities to cease their harassment of British traders and officials resident in China, and to make reparation for goods and property taken from them. A blockade of China's principal ports was to be established, and one or two islands demanded as a place of residence and commerce for British subjects. A piece of Chinese territory was to be occupied, to be restored only when matters were settled to the British Government's satisfaction. Hostilities continued on and off until August 1842 when three specially appointed Chinese commissioners signed the treaty of Nanking on board a British warship in the Yangtse River. This much is, of course, common knowledge. However, the subject matter of this paper is perhaps less well known. Among the by-products of the China Expedition were the books written by British naval and military officers about the War and their experiences in China. Some of the letters sent to family and friends at home have also found their way into print. Such books and letters, together with official papers, are used here to illustrate the sentiments, opinions and attitudes of the day towards China and the War, and I have occasionally quoted from them at length, in order to provide greater realism. Scant Knowledge of China and the Chinese This was the first time that British forces had fought in China. Consequently, there was no one with experience of conducting operations there on land or sea. Moreover, the higher levels of society to which the British officer corps mostly belonged - the aristocracy, the landed gentry and the professions - had little or no knowledge of China. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2000 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/nk328168n 11 crisis, wrote in his diary: 'A fine day: wrote couplets on fans.' Lin's letter drafted to Queen Victoria was a noble and convincing message. In it he points out that opium is forbidden in England and therefore the English know its harmful effects. 'As long as you do not take it yourselves but continue to make it and tempt the people of China to buy it, you will be showing yourselves careful of your own lives but careless of the lives of other people....such conduct is repugnant to human feeling and at variance with the Way of Heaven.' He further writes: 'Rather than waste your efforts on a hopeless endeavour, would it not be better to devise some other form of trade?' (author's italics); surely a hint that trade relations without opium could perhaps be established. Unfortunately the letter was never sent. One can only speculate what might have happened if the young Queen, barely two years on the throne, had received this letter. Lin reminded the foreign traders that they were allowed to trade as a favour, because China was completely self-sufficient, while the foreigners, especially the British, could not live without tea and rhubarb. The belief was widely held in China that the English would die of constipation if they were deprived of rhubarb.' Lin later modified his statement omitting rhubarb but leaving tea as an absolute necessity' (author's italics). The existing opium stocks in the factories were surrendered and destroyed (in salt and lime; not burned as sometimes stated), and for a while it seemed as if Commissioner Lin might succeed in his task, but the confrontation led to an armed conflict, known as the First Opium War (1839-1842), in which the Chinese with their antiquated methods of warfare and ineffective weapons were defeated on land and at sea. It was ‘A conflict between ignorant weakness and conscious strength. It ended in the Treaty of Nanjing (Nanking), by which terms China opened to foreigners the five ports of Guangzhou (Canton), Xiamen (Amoy), Fuzhou (Foochow), Ningbo (Ningpo), and Shanghai as Treaty Ports, where they might reside and trade; an indemnity of 21 million dollars was exacted, and the Island of Hong Kong was ceded in perpetuity to Britain. For China the war was a disaster and humiliation, the last vestiges of which were erased only a short time ago when Hong Kong was returned, in 1997, to its homeland. By contrast, Queen Victoria referred to the war in flippant tones. Writing to her uncle, the King of Belgium, in 1841, she states:- 'The Chinese business vexes us much, and Palmerston is deeply mortified at it. All ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2000 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/nk328168n 52 found four such phrases." They added, in answer to a question, that the CWGC commemorates all members of the Commonwealth forces who died in conflicts regardless of the circumstances of their death. Those who died following sentences given by Courts Martial are commemorated in exactly the same way as anyone else. Officers and NCOs supplied by the British consisted of volunteers from the British Army as well as British officer-candidates from China, consisting of missionaries and members of the China Customs Service from Treaty Ports. Some were promoted from the ranks. Those from the Chinese Customs Service in Shanghai include Arthur H H Abel, who was gazetted as a 2Lt in May 1918; George B Appleton, who enlisted with the 16th Bn Middlesex Regt in February 1915 and transferred to the CLC in April 1917 as a sergeant, being promoted to 2Lt in May 1918; Charles N Cross, who in August 1917 joined the CLC as a 2Lt, transferred to the Royal Air Force in July 1918 and transferred back to the CLC in March 1919 as a captain; Arthur HF Edwardes served with the CLC from April to July 1917 as a 2Lt, and in August 1917 was promoted acting captain commanding No 59 Company CLC in Belgium; Ernest N Ensor, enlisted in December 1914 in the 9th Bn Royal Irish Fusiliers and, after promotion through the ranks, to captain in August 1916, was transferred in July 1917 to command No. 27 Company CLC. Amongst his medals, and being Mentioned in Despatches, he was awarded the Order of the Wen Hu, Fifth Class, for military services. Hugh G Lowder served in various Army battalions before transferring to the HQ CLC from which he was demobilised in March 1920 in the rank of captain. He also received the Order of the Wen Hu, Fifth Class, in 1919. Walter Moore served two and a half years with the CLC, from June 1917 to October 1919. John Murphy served with the Royal Marine Artillery, first in German New Guinea and German West Africa, then in France and also on HMS Warspite. In September 1917 he transferred to the Army and from the Armistice to May 1920 he was attached to the CLC conducting coolies from France back to China. Norman Travers was commissioned as a 2Lt into the CLC in May 1917 and was attached to the Royal Flying Corps, with Chinese, on forward aerodromes, subsequently working also in the forward area in trench, ammunition and lines of communication, finally assisting clearance of the devastated areas. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2001 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g has imposed tighter measures on loan procedures. Loans are closely monitored and we are pleased to report that there is presently no overdue item in the RAS Collection, except for the five old outstanding items that could not be traced any more. As previously agreed, the Curator of the Central Library has kindly helped to review the RAS Collection and restore deteriorated books. About 600 books have been fumigated or repaired. The Curator will continue to detect books in poor condition and repair where necessary. The Central Library has also processed about half of the Arnold Graham Collection which was donated by the late Mr Arnold Graham in 1995. These bibliographical records will soon be loaded into the OPAC, available for access online. A set of five books by Tess Johnston, at the suggestion of our Secretary, Mrs Mary Painter, after the interesting talk by Tess were purchased. The titles included: * Far from home: western architecture in China's northern treaty ports. * God & country: western religious architecture in old China. * A last look: western architecture in old Shanghai. * The last colonies: western architecture in China's southern treaty ports. * Frenchtown Shanghai: western architecture in Shanghai's old French concession. These books provide illustration of unique western architecture in different periods in China and were ordered directly from Shanghai. They are of great interest and are an important photographic record of a style of architecture which is fast disappearing in China today. Concerning usage of the RAS Collection, since the library move in May 2001, the numbers of reference enquiries have increased by 31% although the number of books loaned out have dropped by 50%. As reported by the Hong Kong Central Library, usage of the RAS Collection... xliii ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2001 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g Hsiao, YÀ, 1894- Mao Tse-tung and I were beggars; illustrated by the author, Siao-yu; with a foreword by Lin Yutang; preface by Raymond F. Piper, and historical commentary and notes by Robert C. North. [Syracuse, N. Y.]: Syracuse University Press, c1959. Johann Strauss Thunder & lightning. [Xianggang]: Xianggang Lin shi shi zheng ju, c1999. Johnston, Tess Far from home: western architecture in China's northern treaty ports. Hong Kong: Old China Hand Press, c1996. Johnston, Tess. Frenchtown Shanghai: western architecture in Shanghai's old French concession. Hong Kong: Old China Hand Press, c2000. Johnston, Tess God & country: western religious architecture in old China. Hong Kong: Old China Hand Press, c1996. Johnston, Tess. The last colonies: western architecture in China's southern treaty ports. Hong Kong: Old China Hand Press, c1997. Johnston, Tess A last look: western architecture in old Shanghai. Hong Kong: Old China Hand Press, c1993. Lai, Tim-cheong Dreamscapes: the art of T. C. Lai, Hong Kong: University Museum and Art Gallery, University of Hong Kong, c[1999]. Lai, Tim-cheong Hong Kong rhapsody: the art of T.C. Lai, Hong Kong: Hong Kong Book Centre, c[1997]. Liddell, T. Hodgson China: bits marvel and mystery. London: Allen, c1909. xlvii ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2001 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g where the territory was not debarred from doing so by treaty. In preparation for the negotiations at Ottawa the colonies were also asked to consider what preferences might be accorded them by the dominions and what preferences they might give to the dominions in return on the lines of the Canada-West Indies agreement.” 34 The governor, Sir William Peel, discussed Hong Kong's position while visiting the Colonial Office in June 1932. Officials agreed with him that Hong Kong's status as a free port made it impossible to impose anything like a general tariff. Any such tariff would ruin the entrepôt trade which was vital to Hong Kong's existence and no practicable means could be devised of landing goods in bond for re-export without involving so much inconvenience as to drive the entrepôt trade to other neighbouring ports. Peel was prepared as a gesture to give a preference to empire products on articles such as spirits and tobacco which were subject to excise duty and to impose a higher rate of first registration tax on foreign motor cars than on cars imported from Britain and Canada. He did not ask for any preference from the dominions in return since in his view the bulk of Hong Kong exports consists of foreign goods the proportion of the cost of which, due to treatment in Hong Kong, was not large enough to secure a preference...” This showed a surprising ignorance of Hong Kong's growing trade in domestic manufactures which were largely exported to neighbouring Asian countries. The Ottawa conference convened in July 1932. The British delegation was led by Stanley Baldwin, the former prime minister, and four other cabinet ministers. Canada, Southern Rhodesia and Newfoundland were represented by their prime ministers; Australia and New Zealand by former prime ministers; South Africa and the Irish Free State by their finance and trade ministers. India, which had been given the freedom to establish protective duties in 1923, was represented by Sir Atul Chatterjee and other members of the Viceroy's Council. The interests of the colonial empire were safeguarded by the secretary of state for the colonies, Sir Philip Cunliffe-Lister and one civil servant from the Colonial Office, G.L.M. Clauson. The conclusions of the conference were embodied in agreements between the United Kingdom government and the governments of the dominions and India. Britain consented to continue the free entry of goods grown, produced or manufactured in any part of the empire, and to impose additional duties on specified foreign goods which would give empire produce a preferential margin higher than the 10 per cent tariff already imposed by the Import Duties Act. Britain also agreed to 'invite' the non-self-governing colonies and protectorates to extend to all the dominions any preference at present extended to any part of the empire, and to increase the margin of preference or impose specific duties on a long list of items requested by the dominions. In return the dominions confirmed the existing ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2002 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278 Pottinger Battery: 1 officer + 26 soldiers 3 February 1920 The Chief of Imperial General Staff, Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson, considered that Hong Kong could resist Japanese attack for 3 months before relief from Singapore arrived. Washington Treaty 1920/1921 1922 The Admiralty informed the Committee of Imperial Defence that it was the authority to advise the scale of attack on ports and that for Hong Kong, the "status quo applies." Rollo, 1992, p.98 Rollo, 1992, p.101 Rollo, 1992, p.102 1924 "Devil's Peak Sheet No.3," Ordnance Survey 1904, corrected and printed at the War Office 1924, shows road access, including "roads suitable for man-handled guns" and detailed land uses in the Devil's Peak area, with boundaries of War Department lands delineated. However, the locations of batteries and the Redoubt are not shown. PRO100(2) 1927 Aerial Photograph No. H19 15 taken by HMS Pegasus. The Joint Overseas and Home Defence Committee review. Rollo, 1992, p.104 1928 Steel choke caused problems to the 9.2-inch guns at Devil's Peak. Rollo, 1992, p.105 1929 August 1930 February 1931 Chinese writer/composer, Tien Han, visited Hong Kong and was impressed by the scenic views of Lei Yue Mun, as stated in his poem "Good Bye Hong Kong." The 12th Heavy Battery replaced the 9-inch guns with anti-choke pattern. Rollo, 1992, p.105 The 12 Heavy Battery fired new guns at Gough Battery. "Gough Battery fired over Hong Kong Island and Repulse Bay." Rollo, 1992, p.105 1933 Annual Review of the Defence of Ports. Rollo, 1992, p.105 22 October 1934 The 12 Heavy Battery practised indirect shots at Pottinger Battery. 1934 A letter from the Military Operation Branch of the War Office indicated plans to modernise two 9.2-inch guns at Devil's Peak in 1936/37 with 35-degree mountings. 1936 The Hong Kong Defence Scheme Rollo, 1992, p.107 Rollo, 1992, p.108, 109 Rollo, 1992, p.110, 112 131 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2002 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278 THE YANGZI PORT OF ZHENJIANG DOWN THE CENTURIES 鎮江 PART I KEITH STEVENS 255 Introduction Zhenjiang is a former walled city on the south bank of what is known to the Chinese as the Chang Jiang, the Long River, or simply as The Great River, and to Westerners - the Yangzi [Yangtze]. The city lies some 40 miles downstream from Nanjing and 156 miles upstream from Shanghai, and in its prime during the Northern Song, in the eleventh century, it was one of the major ports on the River, and even though its influence and authority came to a sudden and dramatic end with its capture and destruction by the Taiping rebels in 1853 it remained the provincial capital of Jiangsu province down to the 1940s. Zhenjiang commanded one of the two junctions of the southern or main arm of the Grand Canal with the Yangzi. The city is surrounded on one side by the Yangzi and on three other sides by hills, none at all high or steep, with the Grand Canal winding past the southern and western face of the walls to its convergence with the River at the Xiannü Temple. The city has been walled since the Yuan [13th century], and was built on the level ground between the Yangzi and the Grand Canal. Three of these numerous hills, all islands or former islands in the Yangzi, Jiao Shan, Beigu Shan and Jin Shan, are part of the city's legend. Some ten miles to the south lies a range of higher hills within which foreigners used to seek their exercise, riding and hunting. Of all the treaty ports Zhenjiang is possibly the least remembered by the great majority of westerners, with very few nowadays even having heard of the place. Not even when it is explained that in former romanisations it has been known to foreigners as Chinkiang, Chin-kiang, Chen-chiang Fu, Chin-keang-foo, Tsing-kiang-foo, Kin-kiang, Chingkiang, Tsing-kiang and Jingkou [i.e. Gateway to the Capital - Nanjing]. It was even known by the title of Chin-shan [Jin Shan], Gold ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2002 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278 259 towns and villages of the region visiting their Chinese agents, taking orders for tobacco and sugar and checking sales and receipts, used Zhenjiang as one of their bases. They were known as 'sugar and tobacco travellers'. An extract from the Shanghai Mercury in 1887 described Zhenjiang and its surroundings in the not untypical purple prose of the newspaper hack of the day: Few ports in China would seem to be better situated for trade than Chinkiang, a few perhaps have been more disappointing. The first glimpse of the port is eminently reassuring, as the fine bund, at the time of the year bosomed [sic] in trees, the conspicuous houses topped by the British Consulate, and the goodly array of hulks connected by handy bridges with the shore make a picture surpassed in our picturesqueness by none. The hum of traffic and the cry of coolies permeates the air; the familiar aspect of the Sikh policeman appears at the corners of the British concession; the concession roads are wide and well kept, and, what is unfortunately unusual in China, the enterprise of the foreign residents has succeeded in acquiring a system of good riding roads penetrating the country in all directions as far as from four to six miles from the central point. At the first opening of the port it was assumed that, with the suppression of the Taiping rebellion, its unrivalled position would make it the centre of a large and increasing trade. The Inspector-General nursed it, and proclaimed it the natural rival of Shanghai, British consuls prophesied a direct trade on its own account with Europe, even the native authorities for a time seemed to have come out of their shell and lent it aid and counsel. One Taot'ai', to his honour, be it said, laying aside the prejudices of his class, re-introduced the art of silk cultivation, and the mulberry trees planted by his assistance have originated almost the only industry which remains in the neighbourhood. In spite, however, of all this flourish, Chinkiang remains a comparatively poor port...the British concession is but a small spot, a few hundred yards square, and on it is concentrated the entire trade of the place, native as well as foreign. Although Zhenjiang in reality was but a minor treaty port it was well-known to western expatriates in China during the 19th century as • ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2002 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278 260 one of the ports of call on the routine and customary journey up the Yangzi. It was also within easy reach from Shanghai, no more than a night's sail, with the more adventurous and especially the sportsmen spending a short vacation there. The game varied from wild boar to pheasants and a typical excursion was described by Percival1 who, in April of 1887, was invited by Sir Roderick Runnimede to join him in a voyage up through the Yangzi gorges. Percival wrote that 'it was not a scientific excursion, there were no new countries to discover, no new people to trot out before the world, no new trade routes to open up; it was simply an excursion for health and pleasure combined. In a short time we arrived at the city of Chinkiang [Zhenjiang] itself, the place never having recovered its prosperity since it was burned by the [Taiping] Rebels about 1860. Not more than four or five years earlier [i.e. 1882-3] the shooting around Zhenjiang was all that could be desired; game (principally birds) of every description was most abundant. Sportsmen made Zhenjiang their headquarters. Feathers and fur - everything, in fact, between snipe and leopard - could be found within easy distance. Each year as cultivation advances, population increases, and villages, destroyed by the rebels are gradually being rebuilt, so game is being driven farther and farther into wilder and more remote regions∗. Percival went on to describe how one winter afternoon some years earlier he had joined W. De St. Croix, an old friend, stationed in Zhenjiang in the service of the Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs, and using Zhenjiang as a base they had sailed in the Custom's cruiser up stream to shoot wild fowl. After several days shooting they returned and, on the following day, set off on ponies for the Wu-chow-shang [Wuzhou Shan] Hills, about ten miles south of Zhenjiang to round off the trip with three or four days among the boars and deer. From the early 1890s and for about six years local post offices existed in eleven of the treaty ports issuing their own stamps, one of which was Zhenjiang. A contemporary comment noted that just as many of the stamps were sold to tourists and collectors as were used postally. Zhenjiang down the centuries Zhenjiang has been a place of great importance for a great many centuries. In the beginning, no more than a crossing point for boatmen plying their ferries across the Yangzi, it was known in much earlier times first as Dantu and then as Runzhou. Local historians ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2002 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278 268 bannermen stationed there. The great Qing emperor Qian Long, travelled far and wide throughout his empire on Inspection Tours and visited Zhenjiang. He had a particular love for the monastery at Jin Shan. Lord Macartney was yet another visitor who, in 1792, passed through Zhenjiang on his way up to Beijing, during his unsuccessful attempt to achieve British diplomatic representation there. He was much impressed by the crossing of the Yangzi from the southern arm of the Grand Canal to the start of the northern arm, and by the pagoda-crowned islands he observed on the Yangzi. These would be Jin Shan and the Ganlu Si. Some twenty-five years later Lord Amherst's Mission to Beijing also visited Zhenjiang. His visit was also unsuccessful and, moreover, he was treated with gross discourtesy in the Capital. The storming and capture of Zhenjiang by the British force under Sir Hugh Gough on the 21st July 1842 during the First Anglo-Chinese War This episode in Zhenjiang's history is described in Part II by Phillip Bruce. The problems facing the Qing emperors and their survival from both within and without China during the seventy or so years after 1840 heightened political consciousness and the increasing weakening of control due to unrest and an increase in brigandage. During the latter years of the Qing forced confrontation with Western culture in treaty ports led to the spread of popular unrest and Zhenjiang was no exception. The Taiping era The Taiping Rebellion was an armed rebellion against the Manchu Emperor. It grew out of worsening social and economic conditions, with a number of secret societies and clan groups offering an existence economy and protection. The foreign dynasty of the Manchus had lost its drive and with opium addiction widespread, the scene was set and ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2002 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278 282 in 1896 took herself off up the Yangzi and later wrote about her six-month journey, including her stopover in Zhenjiang. She travelled on the steamer Poyang and...'after passing Silver Island [Jiao Shan], a wooded rock on which there is a fine temple, we reached Chinkiang, the first of the treaty ports on the Yangtze, and well situated at the junction of the Grand Canal with the river. On my two visits I thought it an attractive place. It has a fine bund and prosperous-looking foreign houses, with a British Consulate on a hill above; trees abound. The concession roads are broad and well kept. A row of fine hulks connected by bridges with the shore offers great facilities for the landing of goods and passengers. Sikh police are much in evidence, the hum of business greets one's ears, traffic throngs the bund, the Grand Canal is choked with junks, ...and judging from appearances only, one might think Zhenjiang a busier port than Hankow, the great centre for commerce in Central China'. Mrs Bird then goes on to describe the passing trade including...'our German rivals have done a very neat thing' in starting an albumen factory, in which the albumen, dextrously separated from the yolks of ducks' eggs, is made into slabs, which are sent to Germany for use in photography, the production of leather, and the printing of cotton, etc.'. She also commented on 'the beautiful Golden Island [Jin Shan], separated as recently as 1842 by the channel south of the island where there is now an expanse of wooded and cultivated land sprinkled with villages'. The hulks were replaced many years ago, and yet again, since 1980, their wooden piers have been rebuilt into a row of some half dozen concrete piers. Sir Robert Hart, the Inspector-General of Chinese Maritime Customs for forty-five years, referred several times to the hulks at Chinkiang, usually because the hulk owner, Bean in one instance, was involved in a law case with the local Customs Commissioner. Isabella Bird learned of a number of charities and organisations for the welfare of the poor from the British Consul, W R Carles, and from Rev. W W Lawton who had made careful investigations for the Christian Literary Association of Zhenjiang. She noted that there were an orphan asylum and a benevolent institute for girls in Zhenjiang as well as a benevolent institute with eighty boys. For adults there was a Bureau for Advancing Funds, of inestimable advantage to the struggling farmer or merchant. There were also two free dispensaries, with nine ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2002 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278 283 doctors in charge, and a Lifesaving institution possessing six well-equipped, well-manned boats always on the river near the port, and ten others dodging about above and below. There was also a free ferry, with thirteen big boats, for crossing the ofttimes stormy and dangerous Yangzi. The city also had a winter 'soup kitchen', a Widows Relief Society and Widows' Home, the latter connected with a Boys' Orphanage. Another of the many Western visitors to pass through Zhenjiang was one of the first British Indian Army officers to study Chinese in Peking." Colonel Wingate eventually retired from the Indian Army as the Director of Military Intelligence but not before he had accomplished, among other things, a journey back from Peking to India overland between September 1898 and May 1899 to collect information of all kinds'. In the October during his journey up the Yangzi he disembarked from the Butterfield and Swire boat at Zhenjiang and was met by the British Consul, E. L. B. Allen who put him up in the consulate. [One of Allen's claim to fame was his hatred of the maddening noise of cicadas which he disposed of by shooting them with his pistol]. Wingate remarked in passing that Zhenjiang was unique among treaty ports in that it had only a British settlement; consequently most of the trade was divided between British and Chinese. Consulates were set up in Zhenjiang not only by Britain but also by France, Germany, Austro-Hungary and, for a short while, by America. British Consuls and the Consulate In 1858 the ruins of Zhenjiang were declared a treaty port open to foreign trade, and in 1861 a site was leased and laid out for a British concession. The British Consul first lived in the temple on Jiao Shan before renting a house on the slope near Guan Yin's Cave, the site which some sixty years later became the premises of the Chinese Life Saving Association which professed to be part-owner of most of the river foreshore. Later, a purpose-built Consulate was built on land acquired on the side of Yin Tai Shan [Consular Bluff] together with offices for the foreign employees of the Chinese Maritime Customs erected at the ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2002 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278 288 consul was nearly hit by a bullet that entered his office through the window. This same consul was involved during student protests later the same year when the police quarters were set alight and the students rampaged through the town intent on killing foreigners. He and his family were only saved by the timely arrival of Chinese soldiers, and escaped by river down to Shanghai. Today the Zhenjiang Museum occupies the former British Consulate at 85 Boxian Lu in Boxian Park at the heart of the old town. Amongst the items on display in the grounds is an anchor said to have been from H.M.S. Amethyst, the frigate of the British Yangtze Flotilla, which, after weeks of being blockaded, stuck on a sand bank, escaped downstream despite having been badly damaged by shell fire from the PLA [People's Liberation Army] during their thrust south across the River in 1948 to liberate China from the Nationalists under Chiang Kai-shek. British efforts to seek a diplomatic solution involved Edward Youde, a twenty-four-year-old third secretary at the Embassy, who volunteered to reach the senior PLA military officer at Yangzhou to seek a safe-conduct pass for the Amethyst to sail unmolested downstream back to Shanghai. He first had to obtain passes to permit him to cross the line between the Nationalists and the Communists. After several days of adventures and lengthy cross-country hikes, sometimes under fire, Youde reached the senior PLA officer and his request was forcibly rejected. His mission a failure, he returned, again amidst numerous adventures to report to his Ambassador in Nanjing. He later became better known as Sir Edward Youde, one of the last Governors of Hong Kong. Christian missionaries There were Roman Catholic and Protestant missionaries, Anglicans and the 'faith missions', Baptists, Presbyterians and the Lutherans, and so on, as well as the individual evangelicals, zealous saviours of souls. The most important aspect of this work, though most would not see it in this light, was by setting an example, though this in no way belittled their social, medical and educational work. Medical missionaries, another dedicated breed, were an exception with their professional abilities being widely welcomed not only by Chinese but also by the Europeans within both treaty ports as well as in the remoter parts of China in which they lived and worked. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2002 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278 296 Qufu, and Tai Shan, the Holy Mountain, where he saw thousands of poor pilgrims assembling. Mesny claimed that, as an adviser to the Governor of Shandong province, Ding Baozhen, he persuaded the Governor Ding to establish an arsenal near Jinan and build a railway from the Yellow River to the arsenal. Mesny also claimed to have persuaded him to dredge the Yellow River and to fortify Weihai Wei and Jiaozhou [both places later occupied and governed by Britain and Germany respectively as leased territories]. Mesny also claimed to have persuaded Ding to develop the mineral wealth of Shandong 'which he did though in a small way only'. Riots and mob violence Zhenjiang suffered its share of mob violence and riots during its treaty port era. One of the major problems confronting westerners within China was the ever-present possibility of petty or even major violence against their persons and property. Often the disturbance to the peace, due to whatever cause, would be exacerbated by either western impetuosity and/or the indifference and inactivity of the local intendants [mandarins] and their staffs. There were also the perils of banditry, of pirates, of rebels or simply of thugs. One afternoon in 1865 the astounding news was received in Hankou that three foreigners had been most barbarously hacked to pieces in Zhenjiang, and were not expected to live. One was Francis Pickernell, a friend of Mesny, and another was Charles Lewis of Boston, an American, a former ship and messmate of Mesny's, whilst the third was another friend and fellow Jerseyman, Filleule, all of whom died from their horrible wounds. The outrage caused a profound impression upon all foreigners in the river ports and John, Mesny's younger brother, who had not been at Hankou very long, felt very sad at the loss of three such friends. The outrage was said to be due to mistaken identity. A man named Stone, a master of a lorcha on the Yangzi, appears to have offended some Chinese military officials who had insulted his Chinese wife, and they had attempted to avenge themselves in this horrible manner. One fine evening in about 1866, during the time the Nianfei [or Nianzi], the so-called Twisting Bandits, were in the neighbourhood of Hankou, Mesny relates the dreadful tale of four westerners who saw a favourable opportunity to join up with one of the roaming gangs of ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2002 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278 297 bandits to seek their fortune. Mesny explained that the opportunity occurred for 'the four bold adventurers' to leave the city together with the bandits together with several old Taiping chiefs, amongst whom was a brother of the Shou Wang, the Taiping leader who formerly had held Ningbo. The four, Jerome, a cripple having had one of his legs damaged during the [Opium] war; Captain O.P. Damström, a Swede; Anthony Fiamin, an Austrian from Fiume; and Beeman, a Britisher from London. Mesny believed that they were the only foreigners who actually served with the Nian rebels. Mesny went to see them off and Jerome embraced him very affectionately after the manner of his country. They had not been gone very long when Mesny received a letter from Damström saying that he had been wounded in a cavalry charge against some 'trainbands' who had attempted to cut them off from the main body. The Four Bold Adventurers had then accompanied the Nianzi in their revolving rambles all over the country lying between the Yangzi and the Yellow River from Hankou to Zhifu and back again until the whole body of the bandits had been beaten and dispersed. At the dispersion Damström had been taken prisoner by the Imperial forces and as such had been brought down to Zhenjiang in a cage, or so Mesny understood, and had it not been for Captains Welsh and Macdonald who had been in charge of the artillery and rocket batteries in one of the Imperial camps Damström would very likely have been done to death like his three companions none of whom, though they had surrendered to the Imperial forces, ever returned to the [treaty] ports. Beeman was said to have been buried alive in Shandong, Jerome and Anthony appeared to have been murdered by their captors in northern Jiangsu [province], having become separated during the last few days march. We know remarkably little about Mesny's life during the 1880s. A very serious famine ravaged Anhui province during 1888/9, and Mesny, then aged 46, made two long journeys through Anhui and northern Jiangsu provinces to judge and report on the extent of suffering. During his journeys, Mesny later wrote, he discovered that Earl Zeng [Guochuan], the Viceroy of Nanjing, needed the funds raised earlier by a Shanghai charity, the Renjishan Tang, to appease and pay off the Cantonese bandits, the Shap-ng Tsoi,33 who were very active in the Yangzi valley at the time. Mesny added that he, Mesny, in 1889, had assisted in the pacification of the excited populace at Zhenjiang where he had arrived a few hours after the British Consulate and other buildings ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2002 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278 300 Silver Island forts. I did not answer his letter, but noted the date thereon and the date on which I received it. I was requested to send an answer to someone in Zhenjiang. I gave the letter to Consul Mowat.35 As I did not answer Mason's letter he called early one morning and I asked who he was and what he wanted. He replied that he was the United States consular marshal at Hankou and had come down to see the machine gun I had offered to sell to the Municipal Council at Hankou and wished to know if my machine was a single action or double action gun. I showed him the gun and how to work it, and he decided to buy it. He then wished me to send it somewhere on the Yangzi, I said I could not let it go out of my house until it was paid for, and would not deliver anywhere outside the limits of a treaty port unless provided with a special passport or huzhao. Mason then said that he was going to Ningbo and would call for the gun on his return. He did not do so. He went to Hongkong engaged a lot of foreigners, instructed them to come and report themselves to me for duty, etc., etc. On Mason's return to Shanghai he brought a lot of firearms he had bought in Hongkong. They were seized, and the men he had engaged were looked after. He himself was introduced by Mr R.E. Bredon, Shanghai Commissioner of the Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs, to the Daotai of Shanghai who invited him to dinner and to witness a theatrical performance as if he, Mason, had been a popular hero. He lived in the Central Hotel and was a frequent visitor at the Shanghai Club where he had been introduced by Mr Bredon. Meanwhile all sorts of tricks were being practised to inveigle me into a trap. Conch shells were blown at all hours of the night about my house under the direction of Mason. A host of extra police officers and detectives were placed on special duty on my property, at the switch-back railway. I suddenly remembered the letter that had been sent me. I thereupon called on Mr acting-consul Mowat and insisted on his reporting the matter to H.M.'s Minister at Beijing. Mowat pooh-poohed the whole thing as a farce and so it proved in reality though very costly and dangerous to me. Instructions were soon received from H.M.'s Minister at Beijing and Mason was removed from the Central Hotel on the Bund to H.M.'s ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2003 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2v242g390 51 There is a good selection in Views of the Pearl River Delta, cited above. 19 In a major exhibition of China Trade paintings brought to Sydney's Maritime Museum in 1998, of the 22 oil and other colour paintings of Canton, no fewer than 19 were by Chinese artists. And of 7 such paintings of Whampoa and the Bocca Tigris, 4 were also by Chinese artists. 20 Morse, International Relations, Period of Conflict, op.cit. p.70. 21 Hayes, James, with Garrett, Richard and Valery (1992-3). The Honam Temple (Haichuang Dzi) Revisited, at pp.137-143 of Hong Kong Library Association Journal, No. 16. Honam became a site for additional trading houses under an Agreement signed on 6 April 1847, after Sir John Davis had sent an expedition up the Pearl River and captured the Forts at Bocca Tigris. "The territory of Honam", it was stated, "is a place for trade, the renting of warehouses or of ground for building houses is therefore fully conceded. This will be managed properly by the Consul and the local authorities in accordance with the provisions of the [1842] Treaty. Hertslet's China Treaties, Third Revised Edition 1908, Vol.1 [of 2] p.17. 22 Preface to Dyer Ball, J.(1911). The Chinese at Home, The Man of Tong and his Land. London, The Religious Tract Society. "Tong' is the Cantonese romanization of "Tang'. 23 In MacNair, Harley Farnsworth (1923). Modern Chinese History, Selected Readings. Shanghai, Commercial Press, at p.145. 24 Fu, Lo-Shu (Compiler etc., 1966). A Documentary Chronicle of Sino-Western Relations (1644-1820). University of Arizona Press, 2 vols., at Vol. I, p.368. 25 Chinese text at No.37 in Vol. 1 of the three volume set of Hong Kong's Historical Inscriptions published by the Hong Kong Urban Council in 1986. 26 Davis, Sketches of China, op.cit., p.261. 27 Burford's Panorama, Leicester Square (1838) Description of a View of Canton, The River Tigress, and the Surrounding Country, London, pp.11, 15. 28 Views of the Pearl River, op.cit., pp.176-7. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2003 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2v242g390 74 daughter Anna must have entranced him." Many years later when he wrote to Campbell, he still revealed his paternal care for the wards. He wanted Anna to attend a good boarding school where not only “she can devote herself to music, French, and German", but also "where she will be comfortably lodged and kindly treated.” (Fairbank, Bruner, Matheson 1975: 192-3) 5. Although Hart did not confess, perhaps in his lifetime he had never confessed, fully to his relationship with Ayaou and his three children by her, what he states in Declaration 1 and 2 has given us a clearer idea of his secret domestic life in late 19th China. It indicates that Hart felt affection for Ayaou, though the relationship was initially established for a temporary relief of sexual desire. It also indicates that such a relationship caused considerable hardship to those involved. It should be noted that Hart made his statement concerning his sexual relationship with the Chinese girl Ayaou when the social norms concerning mixed-race relationships between British men and Chinese women had changed fundamentally. When describing his life in the treaty port, Swatow during 1874 to 1878, Paul King states (1980:25); Happily, all this is changed and gone for ever. The number of marriageable girls of his own race all over China gives no excuse to a white man seeking a helpmeet to risk entangling alliances with native blood; but as a temporary measure in the old dark days—well, perhaps better not to hazard an opinion. Bickers also suggests (1999: 98) The twentieth-century treaty ports were still largely bachelor societies, although the proportion of families settled there grew steadily. As elsewhere in the colonial world, British men took native partners when there was a shortage of fellow Britons or other Europeans. The presence of European women—and after 1917 especially the influx of White Russian refugees—made stable sexual relations with Chinese as much as 'unnecessary' as taboo. The change of social norms meant that Hart's relationship with Ayaou was no longer simply a personal secret or a private matter, but an issue with regard to social conceptions, norms, and even rules which were followed by British society in China in the early twentieth century. Thus, in the declarations Hart had to make the new version of his ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2003 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2v242g390 145 cigarette, or a drink of water to the thirsting horses the men rode. The Chinese looked on with as much indifference as the foreigners showed. This would appear to have been a rare display of bias against the Japanese. The vexed question of neutrality Both the Japanese and Russians accused each other of breaching the neutrality of China. China's neutrality was hard to sustain. Problems were mainly caused by trade being maintained as usual by neutral powers at and through Treaty Ports with both belligerents. It was claimed that contraband included arms, coal, rice, flour and eggs. Traders in China furnished supplies with impartiality to both sides, but China feared that any breaches of neutrality could lead to retaliation against them. The brunt of maintaining a sort of neutrality fell upon the Chinese Maritime Customs. Russia was the first to bring categorical charges of breaches of neutrality against China. In late 1904 they raised the following seven points in their note to the Western Powers: (1) The use by Japan of the (Chinese) Miao Islands as a naval base (2) The transport of Japanese military material, stores, etc., by the Shanhai Kuan - Newchwang (Niuzhuang) Railway (3) The supply of material to the Japanese from the Hongkew Ironworks, (4) The enrolment of Chinese soldiers in the Japanese Army. (5) The engagement of Japanese officers for the purpose of drilling Chinese on the frontier. (6) The organising of Hunhutses to fight against Russia. (7) The seizure by the Japanese of the destroyer Rechitelni at Chefoo. Page 195 Page 196 ================================================================================