RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1961 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/vd6724704 Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch RASHKB and author 90 Vol. 1 (1961) ISSN 1991-7295 "build for me a temple on the Ts'ui-p'ing Hill that I may be worshipped for a certain period and thereafter I can be reincarnated." When she awoke, she cried bitterly, and told the request to Li Ching. Li Ching was exasperated, and blamed his son once more for the disaster he had brought on them. No-cha repeated his request in vain on several successive nights and at last he warned the mother, "You know that my temper is bad. If I lose my control over it, you know who will suffer." The mother was scared and sent some servants to go secretly to the Hill and build the temple with an image of No-cha set up in it. The temple of No-cha attracted many pilgrims and the incense burnt to him was ever increasing. One day, after inspecting his troops at drill Li Ching, with a troop of soldiers, was passing the place. He saw many pilgrims flocking to the place and asked his aid-de-camp, "Why is this hill thronged with people?" "For the last six months the god of this temple has performed miraculous deeds and answered the prayers of his worshippers. Therefore pilgrims from every quarter come to worship him," the officer answered. "What is the name then of this god?" Li Ching asked. "The temple is called the Spiritual Palace of No-cha." "No-cha! What!" Li Ching was enraged, and ordered, "Stop! I want to go to the temple myself." He dismounted at the entrance to the temple and entered the hall in which a lifelike image of his son was erected with some idols as his retinue. Li Ching pointed to the image and rebuked it, "While you were living you were a source of trouble to your parents. And now, look, you even deceive the people after your death!" He wielded his whip and smashed the image to pieces, and kicked away the other images. He ordered his troops to set fire and burn down the temple, and the multitude dispersed. When his father visited the temple No-cha had just entered into meditation in such a way that his spirit disappeared from the throne. On his return he found the temple had been burnt to ashes, and his retinue came to him with tears in their eyes. After he was told what had happened, No-cha grumbled, "I have returned what I got from you and broken off all our relations. Why should you come here to molest me, burn down my place and leave me with no fixed abode?” No-cha's souls after half-a-year had acquired some nourishment through the food offered to him and was somewhat visible, so he went instantly to Mt. Ch'ien-yüan and appealed to his master. The Immortal T'ai-I said, "Since you returned the flesh and bones to your parents, Li Ching had no right to interfere with the offerings. But Chiang Tzu-ya is soon to descend from the K'un-lun Mountain to help King Wu and ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1962 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9s166f47f 104 ELSPETH MANEELY 16 hill slopes of the western islands and in the Castle Peak area; but perhaps only four places investigated since archaeological work began in the Colony may be dignified by the term "site". These are: So Kun Wat #, a series of low hilltops to the west of the Tai Lam Chun reservoir; Lamma Island (Pok Liu Chau14), which really comprises several distinct sites; Shek Pik and Man Kok Tsui, both on Lantau Island (Tai Yu Shan). A report on the findings at So Kun Wat was presented by C. M. Heanley and J. L. Shellshear in 1932 at the first Congress of Prehistorians of the Far East held at Hanoi. Father Finn's publications on the Lamma sites, begun in 1932, have recently been reprinted in one volume, Archaeological Finds on Lamma Island Near Hong Kong.3 The Shek Pik site, on the south-west coast of Lantau Island, was excavated by W. Schofield and J. G. Andersson in 1937 and a report was published in the Proceedings of the Third Congress of Prehistorians of the Far East, Singapore, in 1938. The artifacts uncovered at Man Kok Tsui are similar to those found at these earlier sites and are of three kinds: stone tools and ornaments, pottery and bronze. Before describing the discovery of Man Kok Tsui in more detail however, reference should be made to Father R. L. Maglioni's extensive discoveries in Hoifung as they bear a definite relationship to finds in the Hong Kong area. Hoifung lies on the China coast about one hundred miles north-east of Hong Kong. In 1934 Fr. Maglioni, then a priest in the Hoifung region, embarked on a thorough search for prehistoric remains. He located as many as twenty distinct sites. In general the finds were of the same type as those described by archaeologists working in Hong Kong, but Fr. Maglioni was able to distinguish three separate Neolithic cultures. These three he called the SON, SAK and PAT cultures from the capital letters of the romanized names of villages adjacent to the sites. So far Neolithic remains in Hong Kong resemble closely those of Fr. Maglioni's PAT culture, the latest of the three. In April 1958, Dr. S. M. Bard first reported Man Kok Tsui as a possible area for investigation by the University Archaeological Team. The site, given the number 30 by the Team, lies at the extreme tip of the northern arm of Silvermine Bay, Lantau Island. It consists of two sheltered, sandy beaches, a flat fertile valley ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1962 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9s166f47f 134 WEISS, Karel - WELCH, H. H. WILSON, B. D. - WONG, Dr. Man WONG, Pao-hsie - - WONG, Prof. Po-shang WOO, Dr. Arthur W. - WOO, Dr. Pak-foo WRIGHT, D. A. L. YAO, Pe-chun YAP, Dr. Pow-meng YEUNG, Walter YU, Ping-kuen ZIGAL, Mrs. Irene - P. O. Box 718, Hong Kong. The Pink House, B-9, Shatin Heights, New Territories. Urban Services Dept., Secretariat Bldg., H.K. Room 108, China Building, Hong Kong. Messrs. Butterfield & Swire, Union House, H.K. B-5 Wah Kiu Mansion, 1/F, 80 Tai Po Road, Kowloon. Woo Clinic, Edinburgh House, 1/F., H.K. 204 China Building, Hong Kong. Hong Kong Club, Hong Kong. I. L. 7635 Cooper Road, Block 2, East 2/F,, Jardine's Lookout, Causeway Bay, H.K. Mental Hospital, Hong Kong. Secretariat for Chinese Affairs, Fire Brigade Bldg., Hong Kong. Dept. of Chinese, H.K.U. 12, Bowen Road, Hong Kong. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1963 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/4m90m091v 160 WEINREBE, H. M. WEISS, K. WELCH, H. H. * WILLIAMS, P. B. WILSON, B. D. WINKLER, Mrs. E. WONG, Dr. Man WONG, Pao-hsie WONG, Prof. Po-shang WONG, Shing-tsang WOO, Dr. A. W. - WOO, Dr. Pak-foo WRIGHT, D. A. L. WRIGHT, Miss P. YAO, Pe-chun YAP, Dr. Pow-meng YEUNG, W. T, YOUNG, Dr. R. S. YOUNG, Mrs. S. YU, Ping-Kuen YU, Yin C. ZIGAL, Mrs. I. ZIMMERN, W. A. Weinrebe & Pennell, Ltd., 1103/4 Yu To Sang Bldg., 37, Queen's Road, Central, H.K. P. O. Box 718, H.K. 1. Austin Road, 10th Floor, Kowloon. c/o Colony Headquarters, Arsenal St., H.K. c/o Secretariat for Chinese Affairs, Fire Brigade Building, H.K. 402, Clovelly Court, 12 May Road, H.K. Rm. 108, China Building, H.K. c/o Messrs. Butterfield & Swire, Union House, H.K. B-5, Wah Kiu Mansion, 1st Floor, 80, Tai Po Road, Kowloon, 16-B, Tai Hang Road, 1st Floor, H.K. Woo Clinic, Edinburgh House, 1st Floor, H.K. 204, China Building, H.K. c/o Hong Kong Club, H.K. 90, Mt. Nicholson, H.K. I.L. 7635 Cooper Road, Block 2 East, 2nd Floor, Jardine's Lookout, Causeway Bay, H.K. c/o Mental Hospital, H.K. 60-B, Conduit Road, Ground Floor, H.K. Clinical Pathology Unit, Department of Pathology, Queen Mary Hospital Compound, H.K. Clinical Pathology Unit, Department of Pathology, Queen Mary Hospital Compound, H.K. Department of Chinese, The University, H.K. 205-207, Gloucester Building, Hong Kong. No. 12 Bowen Road, H.K. c/o Wheelock Marden & Co., Ltd., Room 1234, Union House, H.K. The Hon. Secretary (P. O. Box 13864, Hong Kong) would be grateful if members would kindly inform him of any inaccuracy in the list of names and addresses. * Life Member Please notify the Hon Secretary of any inaccuracy 1 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1964 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r 46 K. M. A. BARNETT our map describes as Laffan's Plain27 was then a swamp, probably with one or two navigable channels; which explains why there is in that region a Tin Hau135 temple, which is now miles from the highest point which even sampans can reach. 96 Although the first fortification was dated A.D. 958, the name, if it means what it says, indicates that this channel or mun must have had a fortification on it before. Among all the channels which are called by this name mun— all the important channels are so called - no one is going to single out one to be described as "the fort (or garrison) channel" unless it previously had a fort or garrison. However, evidence is still lacking of the nature of this previous fortification. Here a word of conjecture may be permitted. The San On Yuen Chi123 mentions that in the year ✯✯ 6 (A.D. 331) of the Tsin158 Dynasty the hsien of Po On3 was first set up, to be abolished under the Sui22 Dynasty. Since it was in the Tsin158 Dynasty that the first Buddhist temple was said to have been built, the establishment and abolition of the hsien may indicate an unsuccessful attempt at settlement during this period, say from A.D. 330 to 590. From the Nan Han99 Dynasty onwards, it was settled government policy in these parts to encourage soldiers of each garrison to take up grants of land and to settle there after completion of their military service. The land they occupied was known as tuen-tin142 and was charged land tax at a lower rate than normal. Taxation at this favourable rate continued up to the last edition of the San On Yuen Chi123. The favourable rate was the same as the special rate for monasteries. It is pretty clear from local tradition and from the location of the pieces of land which paid tax at the preferential rate that the reclamation of mangrove swamp in and around the present Yuen Long was done by these soldiers and their early descendants. The Man94 clan now settled at San Tin125 have been winning land in this fashion for 500 years on their present location, to which they moved from their first settlement at Lo Fu Hung85 about half way down what was then a creek. The latter lies between the original Tuen Mun141 fort and the present shore of Castle Peak Bay15. Just north of that location, at the foot of the small group of hills on one of which stands the present Ping Shanlit Police Station, there was a village called Nga Tsin Tsuen settled ļ ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1964 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r 58 K. M. A. BARNETT from the point of view of my present subject, the event which ushered in the new age is the capture of Canton in +878 by the Huang Chao146 rebels. Between this event and the re-incorporation of Canton's territory into China in +971, by which time the earliest Chinese had already a firm grip on what is now Hong Kong, the Liu76 family gave five emperors to the Nan Han99 Dynasty at Canton. This family was allied by marriage with the Cheng163 and Tuen families which successively at this period ruled the powerful kingdom of Nan Chao;100 with the Ma89 family which ruled the kingdom of Tsu1 and no doubt, if the evidence could be pieced together, with many other peoples. For we are told that the emperor Liu Chang78 had a Persian princess in his harem, and among the many Arab travellers who visited Canton there must be some who left a description of these flamboyant half-Chinese rulers, with their eighty or more palaces, the walls of which were encrusted with pearls, their bloodthirsty exuberance and, what shines even through the disapproving accounts of the Chinese historians, their courage and administrative skill. The name Po On3 revived by the Republic of China as the name for the district of which geographically, Hong Kong is a part, was adopted by the Canton rulers in obvious reference to the pearls for which this district was at that period famous. The statement in the San On Yuen Chi123 that the name comes from the hill called Po Shan north of Nam Tau8 city is the "cart before the horse". The pearls were fished in great numbers somewhere near Tolo Channel, probably in Double Haven where the name Chue Tong Wat162 survives as a bay on Kar O Island." They were then transported overland along the route marked by a chain of forts over the pass northeast of Tai Po Tau34 village, through Kau Lung Hang, over the present golf course and skirting the Pat Heung2 marshes to the present Ping Shan, and across the creek to the fort of Tuen Mun4 which I mentioned earlier in this paper. The route, I would have you observe, almost at every point passes one of the chief settlements of the Tang44 clan who are, I believe, together with all the old Cantonese-speaking clans of this territory, the descendants of the soldiers stationed here in the Nan Han Dynasty and its successors for the express purpose of guarding these precious pearls. They were as I have said encouraged, when too old to serve with their arms, to settle down ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1964 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r HONG KONG BEFORE THE CHINESE 61 D 27 Now known as Daar-gwuur-Irerng, , an odd name for a valley. 28 dheng, $7. 29 dheonn, *. 30 Dhung-chung, kia. 31 Dhung-gwuurn, **, previously Dhung-gwhuunn, ★T. + 32 Discovery Bay is the bay NW of Peng Chau109 on which stand the villages of Tai Pak, Yi Pak, Sam Pak and Sz Pak,35 33 Draai-bou or Draai-brou, that the latter pronunciation is the original is shown by the Hakka Thay-puuh, not -bhuuh. 34 Draaibou-traw, . 35 Draai-braak, ē, Jri-braak, Sei-braak, N‘. 36 Draai-brou-xoe, ★#* - , Shaamm-braak, and Draai-durng-shaann, AB4 or Draai-dungv-shaann, tu see 37. 37 Draai-jryr-shaann, ★★λ, formerly Draai-xray-shaann, ★★; the name Lantao appears to be of Portuguese rather than Chinese origin, like Lamma, Lema etc. The two peaks are Frungwrong-shaann, ABEL and Draai-durng-shaann, AB or Draai-dungv-shaann. ★ikus, . 38 Draai-laarm, £. 39 Draai-mrou-shaann, ★Ḭu, or ★# + 40 Draal-prang, see the section on sea defence in the San On Yuen Chi,123 The fort so named was originally on the Saikung126 Peninsula, then shifted to its present location N.E. of Mirs Bay, 41 Draaiprang-whaann, ★★. The English name is a corruption of Ma Shi Wan,92 42 Draaltraw-shaann, AML, formerly Sreoi-jran **. Draai-xray. shaann, i see 37. — 43 Draan-ghaah, . There have been many attempts to prove that these people are anything but what they clearly are the original inhabitants of the South China coast. 44 Drang, B. 45 Druk-ngrow-gorng, H¶4. 46 drungv,, a word repeatedly used in the Histories to denote different Man88 tribes. 47 Dryn . F 48 Farn-Irearng, Fhann-Irearng, (formerly Fhann-Irearng, $4). see 48. 49 Fhukgin-saarng, No★★. 50 Fhukzhaw, 15M - ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1964 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r PENG CHAU 77 settlement is given below and it is sufficient to say that at first they owned little beyond their houses22 and seem to have been closely involved in fishing, at any rate in the second half of the century. When their senior elder Mr. CHUNG Fat ## (born 1876) was a boy of fifteen years old, his grandfather owned nine fishing boats of the Hoklo type. These rowing boats were manned with the help of other Hakkas, their friends and clansmen from the Tsuen Wan-Shing Mun-Pat Heung area of the present New Territories. They fished by day or night according to the season, using thread nets made in the shape of a basket and sold to them by Hoklo people. The boats were often out overnight, depending on the distance to which they went to fish and the nature of the catch. They often fished all round the Lantau coast and into Deep Bay, which is a long way for a rowing boat, though anyone who has seen the speed with which the rowers propel these craft off Cheung Chau will not be surprised at this. In 1896 Mr. CHUNG's uncle returned from Sandakan in Borneo, and took him there to work for three years, after which he came back, was married, and together with his uncles and cousins again made the sea his business. This time he did not do the fishing, but with two small sailing boats operated as a fish collector. On behalf of a shop, which was owned by a Punti of San Wui †† extraction then resident on Peng Chau, he went out to the Tanka boats fishing the neighbouring waters and bought their catch, for which he received a commission. At a later stage (1916-46) he worked two boats with which, in the summer months, he collected grass bought from the Lantau villagers opposite Peng Chau. He dried the grass and sold it the following year to fishermen for caulking their boats on a piece of land which he had bought for the purpose. By 1899 the CHUNGs had taken a lot of mortgaged land from the LUI family,23 and all this activity connected with the sea was in addition to farming paddy and vegetable fields, which was mainly carried on by the womenfolk. These paragraphs illustrate the diversity of activities in a small coastal settlement like Peng Chau and the danger of assigning one group to its traditional role and no other. It exemplifies what, in 1840, the famous Commissioner LIN of Opium War fame reported as being a local Kwangtung saying, “Seven go to fishing, three go to the plough”, and again “Three parts mountain, ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1964 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r A RECONNAISSANCE OF MA WAN 115 As it happened, the north end of Lantao remained almost untouched for 150 years. It was leased to Britain in 1898 for 99 years, but little development was undertaken until 1960, when large schemes of reclamation and resettlement were prepared. The slumbering rural character of the island is now beginning to change rapidly. Why was Ma Wan chosen for survey? Nearness to Macao? Access to the Pearl River and Canton? Ships occasionally came down the China coast from the east, and took a short cut to Canton through the Kap Sui Mun Channels, but Parish's report seems to suggest that this was regarded as a hazardous piece of sailing. These ships, however, would all have to pass Ma Wan, and so the island was at that time the best-known in Hong Kong waters. Also, the approach in a square-rigged sailing vessel to the then uncharted coast gave a confusing variety of small islands, promontories, and near-islands. The approach from the west was probably better known, and was easier to find. But it is to be regretted that Parish was forced by his orders and the bad weather to waste so much energy on such an unsuitable site. CONCLUSIONS When the East India Company's trading monopoly to China came to an end in April 1834 the position of English merchants at Canton changed. Lord Napier was sent out as Superintendent of Trade, though the Foreign Secretary, Lord Palmerston, tended to regard him as a representative of the King. Napier soon came into conflict with the officials at Canton over what may be called matters of national prestige, and relations between England and China began to deteriorate. More especially relations were embittered over the increasingly large amount of opium being brought to China from India in British-owned ships. It was illegal to import opium into China by Chinese law, and as a result a swarm of Chinese middlemen co-operated with the foreign merchants in smuggling opium along the coast, especially in the province of Kwangtung. However, in 1821 the Kwangtung authorities were much stricter in enforcing the anti-opium smuggling regulations and as a result the foreign merchants could no longer bring it up to Canton, but instead took it to the "outer anchorages" where permanent receiving ships were stationed during the trading season (approximately October until April). The main base for opium smuggling was the island of Lintin ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1965 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s752cj653 78 A. D. BLUE on board at the time. A similar, but even more murderous case had occurred in 1858, on a river steamer between Canton and Hong Kong. As this was during the Second China War, and the attackers were definitely established to be Chinese soldiers in disguise, this case might be charitably described as an act of war. Most China coasters carried deck passengers, in addition to a dozen or so saloon passengers. In the emigrant trades, however, hundreds and even thousands of deck passengers were carried, and the emigrant ships were the greatest temptations to the pirates. The strategy was to get control of such a ship, take her to Bias Bay or Mirs Bay, both conveniently just outside Hong Kong territorial waters, and then make off ashore in Chinese territory with the money and valuables of the passengers. A few wealthy passengers might also be taken for ransom. An operation of this nature required careful planning and organizing ability, some knowledge of the ship's geography and routine, and some knowledge of navigation and engineering. In many cases it became known afterwards that some members of the gang had travelled on the ship previously, so as to make themselves familiar with it. A piracy of this kind required at least two dozen men, who boarded the ship along with the other passengers, with weapons concealed in their baggage. At a prearranged time a simultaneous attack would be mounted on the ship's key points—bridge, engine room, radio cabin, and saloon; often a meal time being chosen when everyone not on duty would be congregated in the saloon. While the ship was being taken to her destination under the supervision of a few pirates on the bridge and in the engine room, the others were robbing the passengers and broaching the most valuable cargo. As the destination was invariably Bias Bay or Mirs Bay, the piracy would take place as near there as possible, so as to reduce the time the ship was under pirate control and out of communication with Hong Kong. The average coaster never had more than seven or eight European officers, and if the attack were well-timed they could all be immobilized in the first few minutes of the attack. There was usually little resistance from the Chinese crew, and a few men in the engine room and on the bridge were able to take the ship to its destination. There always seemed to be some pirates ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1965 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s752cj653 84 A. D. BLUE Hong Kong, than in the 1920's and 30's. The latter period came within the warlord era when the writ of the central government at Peking or Nanking sat very lightly, if at all, on the southern provinces. In 1925 and 1927, however, the Navy sent expeditions into Bias Bay, to destroy—if possible without damage to innocent lives and property—villages known to harbour pirates and pirate junks. The second expedition was undertaken in exasperation after the pirating of the Jardine steamer S.S. Hop Sang in March 1927.4 The official report issued after the expedition claimed that one hundred and thirty stone and mat shed huts were destroyed in the two villages attacked, and forty junks and sampans destroyed. The raid had been no surprise, and definite evidence was found that the villages had been implicated in recent piracies. These raids only caused a temporary lull in the pirates' activities. The Navy had one notable success in the Irene piracy of October 1927, which illustrates the difficulties with which the Navy and the Hong Kong Government had to contend in their anti-piracy campaign. H.M.S. submarine L4 challenged the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company's Irene when entering Bias Bay without lights and in suspicious circumstances. When she refused to stop, and then ignored a warning shot fired across her bow, a live round was fired which still drew no response. The Irene's captain was navigating under the pirates' supervision, and tried to ring down to stop the engines, but was too late. The next shot struck the Irene amidships on the waterline, disabling the engines, killing a pirate standing beside the chief engineer, and starting a fire which almost gutted the ship before she sank. L4 went alongside and rescued most of the crew, and 220 of the 248 passengers. Three other warships and the tug Alliance arrived later, but were unable to prevent the Irene from sinking. When L4 arrived at Hong Kong the crew and passengers of Irene were screened by the police, and three men were identified as being pirates. A few days later seven other men were arrested, and all ten eventually hanged, after a sensational attempt to break out of Hong Kong's Victoria Gaol. The China Merchants Steam Navigation Company came under the control of the Chinese Government, and the Irene 4 The only piracy of a Jardine ship in the modern era, ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1966 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/bz60k0811 THE FIVE GREAT CLANS 37 Mainland livestock. Rice cannot be grown to compete with the Mainland and Thailand. The vegetable revolution did not come early enough to alleviate the situation, and still has not spread wide enough to provide an answer. The clans one by one were forced to look elsewhere for income, and one after another began to send men overseas. While I have no figures to prove my point, it is clear that the order in which they succumbed to this process is in inverse order of wealth. In other words, the first to start sending people overseas were the Mans of San Tin, while the last were the Tangs of Kam Tin. The process of modernisation and rebuilding of villages throughout the New Territories shows the pattern in pictorial form. Some of what were previously poor, small villages are almost completely rebuilt now with a more modern style of house and many modern amenities. Then come the Mans of San Tin, whose large village is perhaps approaching one-quarter rebuilt with money earned overseas; and lastly comes Kam Tin, where the rebuilding has only recently started, 97 V Many writers on and observers of Southeastern Chinese society have drawn attention to the constant rivalry and feuding between clans in the area, and the New Territories have been no exception to this. In the past, and to a lesser extent now, the five clans have been rivals for power and influence in the area, the animosity between them at times breaking out into open warfare; but while rivalry and bad blood was the norm between the clans, they did draw together and cooperate when faced with danger from outside or with some other form of external stimulus. Two major historical examples of cooperation between the clans can be cited. In 1662, the first year of the K'ang Hsi reign,99 all inhabitants of a wide strip of land on the Southeastern seaboard of China were ordered to move inland as part of a scorched earth policy formulated to help control pirate forces. All the five clans were involved in this evacuation, and it was not until seven years later in 1669—that they were allowed to return, and then only through the intercession and memorialisation of the throne of two high officials of the Kwangtung provincial administration, Chau Yau-tak and Wong Loi-yam.100 As thanks offerings to these two ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1967 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/0c488p70g THE TRAVELLING PALACE OF SOUTHERN SUNG 23 left the country without a ruler, the ministers and generals, after consultation with their mother, the concubine Young, unanimously installed I Wang Shih as the Generalissimo of the state and his brother Kuang Wang Ping as his deputy. After a while, they decided to travel south by boat. When everything was ready for departure, the cunning premier Ch'en I-chung begged to remain behind, using the excuse that he must bury his mother who had just died in Wenchow. Everybody disliked him and took him for a coward. The impetuous and impulsive warrior Chang Shih-chieh thought up a cunning scheme: he ordered some of his soldiers to remove the coffin of Ch'en's mother and to place it on a ship. Consequently Ch'en had to follow, much against his will. In the 4th month they arrived at Foochow, Fukien, In the next month they crowned I Wang Shih Emperor who thus became the last Sung emperor but one. He was then eight years of age. His posthumous name is Tuan Tsung, (*) by which I shall call him hereafter. From that month on, his reign was called Ching Yen (*). His younger brother Ping received the new title of Wei Wang (£), and his little sister, that of Princess of Tsin Kuo (+), while his own mother was properly honoured as the Queen Mother. They stayed in Foochow until the 11th month when news came that the Mongols were invading Fukien, so they sailed southward. After passing by Ch'uanchow (¥) and Amoy in Fukien and Ch'aochow (¶) (Swatow) and Chia-tsu-men (‡ƒ¶) (of Huichow) in Kwangtung, they entered the territory of Kwangchow-fu early in 1277. Passing by Mirs Bay (Ta-p'eng-wan (★*), northeast of Kowloon), the royal party probably went ashore for a short time to get a rest, since there remain a few historical sites by the names of Wang-mu chuang-t'ai (the Queen-mother's Dressing Table) and Wang-mu hsu (Queen-mother's Market). During the next two months they stayed at an island then called "Mei-wei". (This place at present is still unidentified.) In the 4th month (May 1277) the royal refugees landed at Kuan-fu Ch'ang accompanied by many descendants of former Sung emperors who had joined the royal party from different places along the coast. Page 30 Page 31 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1967 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/0c488p70g 54 L. G. AUMER from piracy there. The mountains offered more security and this group established themselves in the remote Grass Field Village. In fact, this spot in the valley was then already occupied by people bearing the surname Ng. What form the contact between these original settlers and the intruders took is not clear, but evidently, as time passed by, the Ng were pushed off, and resettled themselves on an island in the Rocky Harbour area.11 The first Lau group in Grass Field Village seems to have constituted an extended family — one particular man is referred to as the founder of the village. He was of the 15th generation.12 The founder had two sons, one of whom moved out of the place and settled at Clear Water Bay. The progeny of the remaining son ramified in several offshoots. The village now consists of four hamlets inhabited by distinct lines of descent. Two branches have moved away to other areas; to Three Fathoms Cove in a northerly direction, and to the Yuen Long area in another part of the New Territories. The Grass Field people, then, constitute a localized major lineage. As such they form part of a kin unit of a higher order, for which I would propose the designation 'clan'. In fact, a Grass Field villager is not usually able to establish his proper kinship relations with other villagers, at least not with those who are members of other main segments. In order to do this, he has to consult a kinsman with special knowledge or a genealogy book, which used to be kept in most villages. By these means he has a theoretical possibility to trace his actual relations through the genealogical links in the patrilineal line of descent. This will motivate the use of the term 'lineage'. The greater kin unit will, besides the Grass Field people, comprise the segments that resettled in other areas as well as the people living in the village of origin in Sai Kung, and the relatives, in all respects distant, in Mui Yuen in Kwangtung. Theoretically, other Lau descent lines, unknown to Grass Field people, would be included. Before the Japanese Occupation fairly regular demonstration of kinship bonds took place when people from the Three Fathoms Cove and Clear Water Bay branches returned to Grass Field for common ancestor worship. There were, too, frequent contacts with the village of origin in China before the establishment of the People's Republic; delegates took part in ancestor worship ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1967 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/0c488p70g A NOTICE OF THE SANON DISTRICT J 105 This officer established himself at a place then called Shak-tse-kong, the present Nam-tou, a part of which situated on a hill was surrounded by walls. But it was found that this officer was unable to rule efficiently the whole of the district, and some men of influence, supported by the high mandarins at Canton, demanded that the part of the country which they inhabited should be made a separate district. The Emperor Wan-lik granted this petition in the first year of his reign; the new district was called "Sanon,” new peace; and the walled part of Nam-tou rose to be the district town of Sanon, and accordingly received the name of Sanon Yuen-shing 新安城. The Sanon district included the islands of Lan-tow, Hongkong, and all the small neighbouring islands. The mainland portion of the district was bounded to the North by the districts of Túng-kun 東莞 and Kwei-shin 歸善. The northern boundary is formed by the Pik-tau River, which flows into the estuary of the Canton River, and is navigable for small Chinese sea craft (such as passage-boats) for about 8 miles; and several chains of mountains further to the East. This boundary, however, is very arbitrarily drawn, as sometimes villages in the midst of Sanon belong to Túng-kun. The borders of the three districts join together in the neighbourhood of the mart of Kun-lan, a place notoriously unsafe, as being the abode of thieves and vagabonds, who can with facility escape from the jurisdiction of one mandarin to that of another. To the East, the Sanon District is bounded by the estuary of the Canton River. This estuary is divided by the Chinese into several parts with different names: the part to the south of the Bocca Tigris into which the Pik-tow River falls, is called Hop-lan Hoi; the bay named by the English Lintin is designated by the Chinese Nam-low Bay, after the city of that name; Deep Bay is called Hau-hoi or Back-water Bay*. This bay is generally very shallow, a deep channel however running down the centre; the navigation is rendered more dangerous by the many oyster-beds which exist. The bay terminates in a considerable creek, which is navigable at high-tide for three or four miles, as far as the important mart of Sham-tsuen. & PA. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1967 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/0c488p70g A NOTICE OF THE SANON DISTRICT 109 The third remarkable mountain lies a few miles south of the district town, and is called "Nam-shan" — 南山 the Southern mountain. In a bay at the foot of this mountain is the famous temple of "Teen-h'aou” — the Queen of Heaven at Chek-wan; and to the right and left of the entrance to this bay are two forts, now in ruins and unoccupied. A tolerably broad highway leads from the district town to this temple, and four or five rest-houses are erected along the road for the convenience of its devotees. Several altars exist on different parts of the mountain, and to these the Mandarins resort, to worship in times of scarcity or danger, Lastly, is mentioned the mountain of Castlepeak, called by the Chinese "Poe-lou-shan" ✯✯J, on the western borders of the province, near the bay of Tun-wan. This mountain, remarkable for the fine view it affords, has near its summit a monastery occupied by Tauist priests. The mountain is reckoned one of the eight wonders of the Canton province. Some of its large granite boulders are said by the priests to represent various mythological monsters; and several springs well-up near the top, which are also esteemed supernatural wonders by the Chinese. The mountain is often visited by students and literati, and its wonders and beauties have been celebrated by them in many verses. The legends connected with the mountain seem not to be very clearly understood. The most remarkable of them is the following, which gave it the name it now bears: Hundreds of years ago there lived a renowned Buddhist priest who went by the name of "Poi-tow," the Tea-cup Navigator. One night he took up his quarters in a certain house, and went away the next morning carrying with him the golden idol belonging to his host. This man started out in pursuit; but though he could see the priest before him, travelling on foot, apparently very leisurely, he could not, though he was on horseback, overtake him; and presently he saw the holy man carried over a river in a Tea-cup, and so gave up the pursuit as useless. Some time afterwards this priest effected the cure of a woman of rank, merely by writing a charm; often she had applied in vain to many doctors and sorcerers. Gratitude attached the whole family of the patient to him. Not long after this he died on his travels. Five years after his death he again appeared, and declared that he should now go into the Canton province, and accordingly he took up his residence on Castlepeak mountain; and being seen ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1967 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/0c488p70g 128 REV. MR. KRONE rank among the Seu-tsai, twenty of the senior bearing the title of Nam-shang. These Nam-shang have a small pension from Government, and receive some fees from the aspirants to the examination at Canton, who have to procure from them a certificate in reference to their character and acquirements. There are only four Keu-jin in the district; these are all Puntis, and from its western part. They are all engaged in teaching. There is only one individual in the district who possesses the degree Tsin-tze +, the famous Chan-kwei-chik of Sha-tsing. This man held office in Peking, but was obliged to retire on account of the decease of his parents. One of his parents dying just as the time of mourning for the other had expired, his exclusion from office was protracted to the term of six years. During this period he led rather an indolent life, occasionally engaging in the healing art; but he was never much known till the time when the differences between the British and the Canton authorities commenced in 1856. He then offered his services to the Governor General, promising to inflict severe injuries on the British. To effect this, he organised a force of village braves, and endeavoured to stop the supply of provisions to Hongkong. The district magistrate was not at all pleased with the ascendancy of this man, and in several instances showed his dissatisfaction and disapprobation of Chan-kwei-chik's plans. The latter, however, having been invested with dictatorial powers by the Viceroy, exercised them according to his own discretion, and cared nothing for the approbation of the district magistrate, who was at this time his inferior. The measures which he adopted were however unpalatable to the people, who rose against him in the district city, and forced him to retire to his native place. It is said that he also got into the bad graces of the Viceroy, who accused him of having squandered public money, and drawn large sums without effecting anything against the enemy. Chan-kwei-chik is still in retirement in Sha-tsing, and amuses himself by playing on the seraphim which he stole from Mr. Genähr's house in Sai-heong. No natives of the Sanon district at present hold any high office in other provinces. Since the commencement of the present dynasty (1644), six natives of this province have obtained the degree of Tsin-tze, and 54 that of Keu-jin. Page 135 Page 136 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1967 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/0c488p70g A NOTICE OF THE SANON DISTRICT 135 three rows of houses, one behind the other. The centre one contains the principal tablets of the ancestors. Separate tablets commemorate the names and titles of the graduates and officers, which the clan has at different times produced. The second class are the Tangs, which belong to families who set up in them their private tablets of their ancestors. They are much smaller, consisting of only one edifice, with two small out-houses, but they are neatly decorated according to the Chinese taste. The Temples are in general inferior in size and beauty to the ancestral halls. The largest, most elegant, and most renowned is that of Chick-wan, which is dedicated to "Teen-hau" — the Queen of Heaven. The building may be seen from the entrance of Deep Bay. Imperial officers sent on a mission to Siam or Cochin-china, were in the habit of worshipping at this temple before starting, and if they returned safely from their perilous voyage, endowed the temple with rich offerings. By these means spacious buildings were gradually erected, and about six Taouist priests are supported on the income derived from the possessions of the temple. No Chinese vessel passes this way, without making some offering to "the Queen of Heaven." Second to this temple is the one in Man-chau, near San-keaou, which is also dedicated to the same goddess. The most popular idols to which temples are erected in Sanon, are "Teen-hao" — the Queen of Heaven; "Quan-yin" — the Goddess of Mercy; "Kwan-tai" — the God of War; and "Pak-tai" — the God of the North. In Sai-heong there is a considerable temple dedicated to a man who was once a high official at Canton. The following is the history of his apotheosis: The Emperor Kanghi once gave orders that the people should retire from the sea-shore, and settle some miles further in the interior, so that the pirates would be unable to carry on their depredations. This man interceded with the Emperor, and succeeded in getting the decree repealed. Out of gratitude to him, numerous temples were erected along the coast, in which he is worshipped. Altars are erected before the villages, in the fields, under green trees, and upon the hills, and are dedicated to the worship of the tutelary deities. They are the Gods of Land and Grain, ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1967 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/0c488p70g SALT MANUFACTURE IN HONG KONG 139 a single farmer can harvest about 500 piculs of salt within a year. Most of the salt farmers of this type are natives of Lantau island and leaching is the only method inherited from their remote ancestors. Salt-farmers of the other type are mostly natives of Swabue, Haifong district, who, being not quite familiar with the leaching method, employ the ordinary solar process exactly as they used to practice it in their native land. With a man as their head, a group of 18 to 20 salt-farmers is engaged by the company, or by the capitalist. These men receive no wages but a share of the harvest and do not receive the money until all the salt manufactured within a year is completely sold and the value collected. The company, as a general rule, pays each farmer engaged $9.00 each month for board and sometimes advances him some money when needed; but all these monies are placed on his account and will be subtracted from his share of the harvest. Whilst the share of one-third of the total harvest of the year must be divided equally among all the farmers, the head-man usually receives 10% extra. San Hui has only two unit-salines in which salt is prepared by the leaching method. In Shataukok, about 20 acres of low-lying land are available for salt preparation; the leaching method is used. The salt company leases the land from Government and then engages workers to make the salt, which is divided equally between the company and the workers. The workers receive no pay but are free to sell their own shares of salt. The rental of one unit saline, consisting of a vat, six concentrating fields, storage tanks, and crystallization ponds, paid to Government varies between 18 and 25 dollars per year, depending on the size of the saline. The two simple local methods are described as follows: I. THE LEACHING METHOD. This is the oldest method practiced in Tai O, Shataukok, San Hui, and perhaps in most salt-producing districts of China as well. At Tai O, there are thirty-three salines, built side by side on the low-lying flat land adjoining the bay, which are enclosed by high dykes to prevent flooding at high tide or by storms. Each unit saline occupies one acre; around each are constructed ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1967 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/0c488p70g 140 LIN SHU-YEN shallow canals, or small reservoir ponds, communicating with the sea of the bay at high tide. As shown in figure 1, the leaching vat (V) is constructed near the centre of the saline with the concentrating fields (C1-C6) situated on both sides, and the storage tanks (S) and the drying or crystalizing ponds (D1-D6) on the front side. L R せ R R R R D1 P2 P3 .| મ Figure 1. Diagram showing the arrangement of the different parts of a saline in which the salt is prepared by the leaching method. + C1-C concentration fields; D-D6 crystalization ponds; R, reservoirs for sea-water connected by a channel to the sea; S, brine storage tanks; V, sarthern vat for leaching; HC, canal leading brine into the crytalization ponds; LC, canal leading brine back from the crytalization ponds to the two storage tanks; PSS, soil impregnated with salt; T, trough into which the concentrated brine is bailed from the two storage tanks. In the preparation of the salt the surface soil of the concentrating fields, to the depth of about 1½ inches, is loosened by a man-driven harrow (figure 2) and then sprinkled with sea-water from the canals (figure 1, R), once or twice a day. The harrowing ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1967 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/0c488p70g 154 NOTES AND QUERIES 1626 the Manchus were stopped in their tracks at Ning-yüan by the foreign artillery. But this setback was not to last very long. They saw the usefulness of these weapons and set about casting some themselves. These proved effective in the conquest of the northern frontier (1643-44) and in the years to follow as their armies plunged on down across both the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers to Kwangtung and Kweichow. Columbia University L. CARRINGTON GOODRICH NOTES 1 In this I have consulted Mr. C. N. Tay of the American Museum of Numismatics, New York City. 2 The inscription on the cannon is given below. This cannon was found lying on open ground in the Tsiu Keng sub-district in the northern part of the New Territories. It was reported by Mr. R. E. dos Remedios, Senior Land Assistant in the District Office, Taipo in August 1966. The cannon was completely exposed and must have been in this condition for a long time. It is not clear how it came to be there. * This cannon, which was mentioned in passing in the note on the Tung Chung Fort, at p. 148 of Vol. 4 of the Journal (1964), was dredged from the sea in 1956, either from Kowloon Bay in the course of work on the extension to Hong Kong airport or from Fat Tong Mun (otherwise called Joss House Bay) in the approaches to Hong Kong Harbour—sources differ. It is now mounted with a plaque in Chinese and English outside the Central Government Offices (East Wing), Hong Kong. It was heavier than the one recently discovered; 300 catties as compared with 300 catties. The Chinese inscription, which is much the same, is also given below. 4 An insight into the happenings of these troubled times is preserved in the family record of the Tsui (徐) clan formerly of Shek Pik on Lantau island, to which their ancestor had removed in the 16th Century. The family came from Mong Ngau Tun (望牛墩) in Tung Kwun district (東莞) where they had settled in the Sung dynasty from Kiangsi province. There was fighting in Tung Kwun against the Manchus after their success in the North. The record which gives no precise date for this occurrence, though it must have been within a few years of the change of dynasty in 1644 — reads — Sau Yeung-kap, a civil officer, and Li Shing-tung, a general, instigated an uprising against the new dynasty in Tung Kwun. As the revolt gathered momentum, oxen and horses were killed for food, and rice and corn became as expensive as pearls. For miles, one could see nothing animate; the fields were covered with dead bodies. In some places, human flesh was eaten by the starving people, and piles of human bones filled the ruined houses. A detachment of the Manchu army was sent to besiege the district city, then occupied by the rebels. In the conflict that ensued, human beings were massacred as though they were ants, and law-abiding people and bad characters alike were destroyed. Fortunately, our clansmen, then living at Mong Ngau Tun, escaped this calamity. However, many of our former neighbours and fellow-natives in Ming Ka Lane lost their lives and [as the record says in another place] all the dispensations of the previous dynasty were regarded as scrap paper. (I am grateful to Mr. Gilbert Louie for this translation. Ed) Readers will note that Li Shing-tung (Li Ch'eng-tung) is mentioned in Prof. LO Hsiang-lin's Additional Note where he is described as Governor of Kwangtung. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1968 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833948d FAN LAU AND ITS FORT 83 overlooking various approaches in connection with the maritime defence of the Chu Kong estuary.2 In the past vessels proceeding towards Canton from northerly points used two main routes. The first was an inner route through Fat Tong Mun1 into Kowloon Bay by way of Lei Yu Mun, after which a stop was made near the present day Kowloon City. Vessels then proceeded through what is today's Hongkong harbour towards Kap Shui Mun. Continuing northwestwards, they negotiated the inner Tai Yu Shan passage towards Lung Kwu island, using for their landmark Castle Peak (1, Shing Shan) the same landmark that Sung sailors used centuries ago to pinpoint the then bustling emporium of Tuen Mun, located near its base. From then on, ships continued towards their destination, stopping either at Lin Tin or at Nam Tau with a final clearance at Fu Mun. A second approach used by vessels was to raise their landfall at Pak Tsim, Yung Hai, or at Tam Kong (see page 87 for these places), and thence to proceed through the Sam Chau Mun picking up the twin-peaked heights of Fung Wong Shan, the highest point in the Tai Yu Shan, as a navigational landmark. On this bearing, ships entered the estuary of the Chu Kong at a point below Fan Lau fort. From Fan Lau they set course for Lung Kwu, before continuing up the estuary to Fu Mun and then to Canton. The importance of Fan Lau to the Chinese coastal defence system lies in its location athwart the entrance of the Chu Kong estuary. The headland of Fan Lau too, made an excellent navigational landmark for ships approaching the estuary. Fan Lau fort The fort is sited on high ground about 235 feet above sea level. The exterior dimensions are 155 feet by 70 feet. The stone walls vary from 3 to 7 feet in width depending on the extent to which the existing walls have crumbled (plate 7). The height of the walls also varies, being higher at the southern end facing the sea than at the northern end. The area inside the fort covers no more than 7,380 square feet (123 feet by 60 feet). The smallness of this area suggests that the structure was a small outpost fitting the description of “guard-station" rather than "fort", although it appears on a map in the Kwong Tung Tung Chi as the Tai Yu Shan pao tai (*: literally "Tai Yu Shan gun terrace"). ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1968 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833948d 90 ARMANDO M. DA SILVA It will suffice here to say that the exterior defence of the Chu Kong estuary consisted of a series of forts, customs-stations and guard-posts in the Lo Man Shan 老萬山, Kai Pong 鷄澎, Sam Chau Mun 三洲門, Ngoi Ling Ting 外伶仃, and the Tam Kon ## groups of the outer off-shore islands. The civil administration ruled from Nam Tau, the district city of the San On district. The military administration was centred at Tai Pang, on the western arm enclosing Tai Pang Hoi (Mirs Bay). The civil administration operated on a north-south axis, as against the east-west axis of the military coastal defence system. This is understandable when one realizes that the military could facilitate their control of the coast-line by establishing easy communications by water running the length of the coast-line from strongpoints on strategic head-lands and the offshore islands. 3 For the Chinese characters of place names of some locales in the vicinity of Tai Yu Shan see map 3. For names of places within the present territory of Hong Kong see A Gazetteer of Place Names in Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories (Hong Kong, Government Printer, 1960). 4 So far as I know there has been no published study of this fort by Hongkong's local historians, except for a brief mention in one work which states that Kai Yik Kok fort was of Ch'ing dynasty date. Lo Hsiang-lin, Hongkong and its External Communication before 1842, (Hongkong, Institute of Chinese Culture, 1963) p. 172. 5 The principal ingredients of this cement are clam and oyster shells which are crushed and burnt to produce slaked lime. The lime is then mixed with fine sand to produce a holding cement. Shells and fine sand are common to many local beaches and are, apparently for this purpose, used in lime kilns. 6 San On Yuen Chi, kuen 22, under section on Coastal Defence reads: 看復界後海絮籹寧而設險更捻周密雖今之汎地 及設兵皆與舊制不同而大嶼山雞翼角炮臺南頭 炮臺赤濘炮蠱最為餓要 7 Fan Lau is also known as Shek Sun meaning "boulder growths", a reference to the numerous residual boulders at Kai Yik Kok, 8 Luis Gomes, Monografia de Macau (Macau, 1951), a Portuguese translation of the O Mun Kei Leuk p. 70. "No 7° ano de long Tcheng (1730) construiram-se fortalezas nas duas montanhas, distribuiram-se as guarniçoes para a sua defensa e foram reforçadas as tropas que guarneciam Tai-U-San formando assim como que um angulo semelhante ao que e constituido pelos chifres dum boi, para servir de defensa exterior de Macau e o Boca Tigre", 9 J. J. L. Duyvendak, "Sailing directions of Chinese voyages" T'oung Pao, vol. 34 (1938) pp. 230-237; and "The true dates of the Chinese maritime expeditions in the early fifteenth century", T'oung Pao, vol. 34 (1938), pp. 341-412. 10 The district of San On (新安) was formed in the sixth year of Lung Hing (隆慶) ie. 1572-73, Fourteen years later, in 1587, the San On district gazetteer was written by Yan Tai-kon (縣太君), the District Magistrate. Various editions followed. The latest edition was published in 1819. This gazetteer provides the best primary source of information on pre-British Hongkong. Chapters (kuen) XIV and XXII deal with Coastal Defence. These are chapters of special interest to historical geographers. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1968 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833948d 130 J. NACKEN Congee. As they pass your door you have your choice. Here comes the first, crying Mai 'chü 'hüt 'chuk:* the next, Mai' yü *shang 'chuck,† etc. You may have pigs' blood congee, fish congee, mulberry-root flavoured congee, or barley, or kidney or pork and a variety of other congees. I may be allowed to here remark that all street cries are also heard on the water. When you see a man paddling his own canoe among the Chinese shipping, you may know that the articles he has for sale are the same as these sold on shore. As these hawkers do not come within the regulation which is in force on shore, I cannot say how many there may be. They simply have a small boat license; their lungs are so good that I hear their cries pretty distinctly in my house up the hill, and they assist their cousins on shore to swell the number of cries considerably. Some of these are of bad character; they will paddle out to the foreign shipping, having concealed bottles of samshoo under their heaps of sugar-cane or pine-apples. They bargain with the sailors and will steal if opportunity offers. The second batch of hawkers who have articles of food for sale go out in the hours that precede the two principal Chinese meals at 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. There are firstly the sellers of vegetables. In spring they sell celery, coarse greens, water cresses, salad, spinage, and bean sprouts. In summer; pumpkins, squash, cucumbers, egg plant, popaga‡, lotus root§, bamboo sprouts, many kinds of beans, etc. In autumn: caraway plant, pepper, potatoes, taro, various cabbages etc.; and in winter: mustard plants, white greens, colewort, parsley, onions, garlic, scallion, etc. Mai tau' fu' is a cry heard very frequently. This bean curd is often the only "sung" on the table. It is made of bean flour, prepared with salt, gypsum, and water, then pressed between two boards, and sold in little square pieces at one cash each. * ⭑## [The diacritical marks in the text are difficult to read from the microfilm, Ed.] 广费魚生粥 + *** $ # This is a very good vegetable, which is not yet found, as far as I know, on European tables. This root, after being dried and powdered, forms the well-known arrow-root, || 費荳腐 , ie, whatever is on the table besides the rice. Page 135 Page 136 ================================================================================ 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 169 One of the areas in which we have particularly interesting and new information is that of Buddhist "kinship": one of the principles for organization used by monks and which copies that of the Chinese kinship system to an astonishing degree. Knowledge of this type of organization throws light in turn on the nature of Buddhist sects. Sects are merely a reflection of the number of disciples; if disciples proliferate then the "lineage" tends to divide into new sects; if they dwindle, the sect may disappear. As the author remarks, Westerners accustomed to connexions between sects and doctrines, and Buddhist specialists of Japan where sects have remained exclusive and doctrinal differences preserved, will no doubt find this difficult to accept. The question of lay commitment is also pursued and the relation of recruited laymen to the monastic "kinship" system. Mr. Welch reveals, in fact, the whole complexity of inter-relationships among monks and laymen in this system and shows that a vast network of connexions existed among Buddhists despite the fact that Buddhism itself had no central leadership. Questions of syncretism are also discussed and the study of Confucian Classics by the monks. The author helps to correct the impression that all monks are illiterate also, by quoting figures from some local surveys conducted by the Communists during the first three years after they came to power. As the author says himself: "we have... a broad gamut of institutions and men, with the good and the bad "the dragons and the snakes" side by side. The system had room for both piety and commercialism, scholars and illiterates, vice and discipline - all making up a mixture whose components we know, although we cannot assay the proportions in which they occurred”. Mr. Welch has done much in this work to adjust our perspective on Chinese Buddhist organization. He has already planned a second volume to cover the history of Buddhism. If it is anything like the present work we are in for some refreshing new statements and plenty of surprises. Hong Kong, 1968. MARJORIE TOPLEY ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1969 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9g553n20d 84 R. BRUCE lost Java and gained Singapore for a reluctant Company, and Malacca followed. Siam was eventually drawn into the picture not for her trade or her position on the way to China a little off the route -- but, in fact, because of Kedah and the other northern Malay States. By 1818 the Chakri dynasty had gained sufficient strength to instigate her vassal Kedah to attack the neighbouring Malay State of Perak. The Siamese army then entered Kedah itself and the Sultan fled to Penang. British merchants there were indignant and called on the Company to intervene, but the Supreme Council in Calcutta considered that "a war with Siam would be an evil of very serious magnitude". Their policy was one of conciliation. "All extension of our territorial possessions and political relations on the side of the Indo-Chinese nations" the Company declared, "... is earnestly to be deprecated and declined as far as the course of events and the force of circumstances permit". As well as the Malay States there was the Burma question. The restive Burmese had extended their power to Arakan, thus making them neighbours of the British in India. By the eighteen-twenties Britain became involved in war with Burma in the southern part of the country. With the extension of the East India Company's interests to Siam's western and southern borders it became desirable that relations between the Company and Bangkok should be regulated on a peaceful basis. At the same time trading relations should be improved. The bad conditions of trade were described by Raffles as "slavish and humiliating” for English merchants. He gave this account of the trade: “On arrival in port the most valuable part of the cargo is immediately presented to the King who takes as much as he pleases; the remaining part is chiefly consumed in presents to the courtiers and other great men, while the refuse of the cargo is then permitted to be exposed to sale. The part which is consumed in presents to the great men is entire loss; for that which the King receives he generally returns a present which is seldom adequate to the value of the goods which he has received; but by dint of begging and repeated solicitation this is sometimes increased a little." To remedy the situation John Crawford was sent to Bangkok by the Governor General of India in 1822. Page 90 Page 91 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1970 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ww72j0241 156 S. F. BALFOUR between A.D. 785 and 805 by a Chinese called Chia Tan and which are published in the T'ang official history. The text concerning our region reads: "From Canton travelling towards the South East for 200 li you reach Mount T'un Mun. The name T'un Mun or garrisoned entrance is still given to the Castle Peak region. The landmark is in fact Castle peak itself. It must have been known centuries before the publication of the text we have cited and the foreign ships coming to and from Canton must have anchored in its neighbourhood in such numbers that a Chinese garrison was sent to control and protect them. This garrison was appointed during the Tang dynasty. There is some difficulty in placing the locality of the anchorage. It may have been Castle Peak Bay itself, or any of the harbours between it and Fat T'ong Mun. The Arab Chain of Chronicles gives the following description of the route to Canton: "Seven days are needed to pass through the Straits between the mountains. Then you reach fresh water and proceed to Khanfu. ** There may, of course, have been confusion in these accounts, and the area of approach to Canton also called by the Arabs "the Gates of China" may have been elsewhere than our region. On the other hand this description fits in with the nature of the passage from Fat T'ong Mun to T'un Mun in all respects except that it takes less than seven days to pass through. Perhaps, however, these seven days were meant to include the administrative delays which ships entering Canton were bound to encounter. There is no local tradition or archaeological evidence of the passage of foreign traders past T'un Mun, or of the site of the garrison. One theory is that it was near Castle Peak Bay and at that period there was a channel connecting with Deep Bay which made the Castle Peak range itself an island. Amongst other things the garrison was in charge of the salt fields in the district, and it seems quite likely that at that time the salt fields covered this channel. The mountain itself is supposed to have been visited by a Buddhist saint in 428 A.D., who journeyed across the sea in a ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1970 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ww72j0241 HONG KONG BEFORE THE BRITISH 173 the Chinese took place. Where was the island which the Portuguese called Ilha da Veniaga or "island of trade" and which was the centre of the foreign trading community? It has been very plausibly argued that it was at Ling Ting the Solitary Island in the estuary, but there is no local tradition or Chinese text confirming it. My own impression of the events is that the Portuguese built their fort in the neighbourhood of Castle Peak Bay and with their superior ships and artillery tried to dominate the foreign trade by controlling the entrance to the Canton estuary and by compelling the ships which put in at any of the natural harbours between Fat T'ong Mun, or at any rate K'ap Shui Mun and T'un Mun, to recognize their suzerainty. Another text says: "T'un Mun had long been the collecting place of foreign trading ships. In the reign of Ching Tê the Feringhis of the west under pretext of sending tribute infested our shores. Their actions were beastly and poisonous. They kidnapped children and ate them etc. These two texts are from inscriptions on a temple to a famous civil officer named Wang Hung who organised the attack on the Portuguese fleet and fortress. He was remembered with such gratitude by the local people he protected that he has received minor canonisation and is worshipped in our region. After describing the outrages of the Portuguese the inscription goes on: “All this came to the ears of Wang Hung who was enraged. He raised an army which he commanded personally, risking his life and exerting himself to the utmost. His efforts in conceiving the winning strategy in recruiting local craft and in teaching them to fight were crowned with success. He saw that the foreign boats were big and relied solely on their sails to move about. At that time the south wind was strong and he ordered the wrecks of some foreign ships to be filled with firewood and combustive oil and sent them on fire towards the Portuguese who were burnt or drowned. The people then attacked with a loud shout and gained the victory, totally exterminating their enemies." The Topography places the site of this final onslaught at Kau King Shan just above Castle Peak Bay. The Portuguese present at this battle were in some eight or ten ships and included Jorge Alvares, the discoverer of T'un Mun, 29 J. M. Braga in Tien Hsia of May 1939, ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1970 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ww72j0241 NOTES AND QUERIES 183 24TH MAY, 1969 VISIT TO OLD SHAU KEI WAN The programme notes prepared for the visit are reproduced below. Ed. This visit is to an area soon to experience redevelopment. Within a few years, extensive reclamation and clearance of squatter structures will transform the district. Dirty and non-descript, nonetheless it has interesting relics and associations that are worthy of attention. Shau Kei Wan, the name means "Rice Basket Bay", clearly so named because of its shape, is an old settlement probably dating back to centuries before the British occupation of Hong Kong Island in 1841. Its population was given as 1,200 persons in the first Hong Kong census of May, 1841. Then as now, the population were farmers, shopkeepers, and fishermen, scattered in various settlements round the shores of the bay, named by the British "Aldrich Bay" after a military engineer officer who served in Hong Kong in those first years. Shau Kei Wan has for long been known locally as the 'Bay of Hungry Men'. Writing as long ago as 1858, the Rev. W. Lobscheid noted: "This village is called by the natives Ngo-yan-wan (the harbour of the starving men). They relate that, about 150 years ago, a few junks were driven into this harbour by a hurricane. The weather continuing very rough for several days, and being in want of provisions, they went on shore in order to purchase some rice and other necessaries. But nothing could be obtained, and the unfortunate men had to leave almost in a starving condition. From that time, they called the place the harbour of the starving men', which appellation it bears up to this moment." [From A Few Notices on the Extent of Chinese Education and the Government Schools of Hong Kong, etc. Hong Kong, Printed at the "China Mail" Office, MDCCCLIX p. 38.] In another version of the same story, given in a Chinese publication in 1947, the name is ascribed to the fact that Shau Kei Wan was a base for lawless pirates, the "hungry people". This account said that because of the geographical advantages ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1971 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g THE TAIPINGS AT NINGPO 29 Ningpo, for a long time had been a difficult city to administer, but the Taiping occupation seems in retrospect to have been an exceptional period. To better appreciate this it is worth considering Ningpo in a somewhat broader perspective. For example, a year and a half before the Taipings took the city, a Jardine Matheson Company agent reported that the Ch'ing officials were unable to control the pirate-infested countryside.41 Three months after the Taipings left Ningpo, the Jardine agent gloomily reported that trade was bad and would remain so until "a stop was put to the squeezing on the part of the Imperial Authorities."42 Six months after the departure of the Taipings, the agent revealed that Ningpo was in the throes of civil chaos. The unpopular tao-t'ai had been forced into hiding following a dispute with men from Frederick Townsend Ward's so-called Ever Victorious Army. The situation was resolved by Captain Dew who actually had to reoccupy the city. Dew and Harvey ignominiously had to search long and hard to find the affrighted Ch'ing official.43 Small wonder then, that the Jardine agent's report of January 1863, speaks of how the country people of Ningpo are now fondly recalling that the Taipings had always paid for what they took.44 Judgment on the victorious expulsion of the Taipings from Ningpo has been varied. Consul Harvey congratulated himself: For my part, let me state that it will be a source of great satisfaction and I may add, of pride, in after time to think that I have been placed in a position to use my feeble pen, and to have exercised my humble powers (always within the limits of my official duties) in weakening and undermining, as perseveringly and indefatigably as I have been able, the most gigantic imposture and the most blasphemous structure that ever disgraced ancient or modern pages.45 Foreign Secretary Russell, from London, also congratulated Harvey for the "judgment, courage, and temper, which he displayed on all occasions...."46 Another influential writer on these events termed Dew's accomplishment "a brilliant feat of arms."47 But the Hong Kong Daily Press, for one, expressed the view of many contemporaries: "There never was a falser, more unprovoked, or more unjustifiable act than the taking of Ningpo by the allies from the Taipings. It should, in fairness, be recorded to the eternal disgrace of Captain Roderick Dew, of HMS En- ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1972 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gm80qf99h CHINESE MEDICINE 17 European notice in the last century through the publications of the Jesuit fathers. Preventive medicine was only stressed in recent years by scientific medical men, but in China the idea that "Prevention is better than cure" has been advocated long ago. I quote the following passages from different writers in support: In the Su Wen (†), The Basis of Chinese Medicine, supposed to be edited by Emperor Huang Ti (†), it is said: “The sage does not treat those who are ill but those who are well." Huai Nan-tzu (††) said: "The good doctor pays constant attention to keeping people well so that there will be no sickness.” In the Difficult Classic (##) (Nan Ching), it is said: "The skilful doctor treats those who are well but the inferior doctor treats those who are ill." In the Nei Ching (#) Canon of Medicine, it is said: "The good physician first cures the disease of the nation, then human ailments." Hygiene and Public Health were also in an advanced state during the Chou (B) dynasty. The writings of Confucius (R), Huai Nan-tzu (†), Kuan Chung (4) and others contain numerous references to them. Thus, as regards food and drink, Confucius advised one to abstain from rice which had been injured by heat, moisture and turned sour; fish and meat that was stale; what was discoloured; what was of bad flavour; anything that was not in season, etc. The relation between contaminated food and disease was recognized. The Confucian Analects (3) said: “Diseases enter by the mouth." "Eat nothing that is improperly cooked." "Meat and wine bought from the street stands must not be taken.” Many of the so-called "new" methods can be traced back to China. Take for instance Fletcherism; that is, thorough mastication of food. It was first advocated by an American, named Fletcher; hence the term. Mr. Gladstone, the Grand Old Man of England, who lived to be 85, was so convinced of its benefits that he chewed every mouthful of food 36 times before swallowing it. Strange to say, Ho Yang-heng long ago described: "Rice (i.e. food) should be chewed into pulp before swallowing. It nourishes the heart and abdomen. It tastes better and is more nutritious. Again, health advocators teach that the teeth should be brushed twice a day. It is interesting to note that Sun Szu-mo (R) of ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1972 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gm80qf99h NINETEENTH CENTURY WATER-COLOURS OF CANTON 25 whilst our original attackers were in our rear. There was no time to be lost, so we skirted along the base of the White Cloud Mountains, for then we knew we had only one flank to watch. In case of being hard pushed, we could get up and make a stand, and the struggle might be seen from the city walls, and relief be sent to us. The fellows came out after us with their flags and their jingalls, running along at our side, and following in our rear, and banging away with really wonderfully bad luck they never could hit any one even by chance. Meanwhile we posted on as fast as we could, firing a shot every now and then, and when they came too near, sometimes making a little charge towards them, when, of course, away they scampered. But time was everything to us, and we could not afford to chase them, for as we passed each village we saw armed men turning out, and flags hoisted on the mandarin poles. One or two of the marine artillerymen got knocked up from fatigue and had to be put on the ponies; at last, after some five miles of this fun, on turning the corner of a hill, the pagodas of Canton rose before our eyes to our immense relief. Our pursuers evidently thought they had gone far enough and hauled off, and we sat down on the grass, and finished our cold chickens and beer, determined not to be done out of our pic-nic. We got in about five o'clock, after ten hours' enjoyment of rather mixed feelings. Presumably the artist was among the officers who took part in the 'picnic'. Unfortunately Col. Fisher does not name them. Continuing his account of events in Canton in the spring of 1858, Fisher states that "in the middle of May some troops moved off for the expedition to the Pei-ho under Sir Michael Seymour; a company of Engineers went on the 11th from Canton; the 59th were taken up from Hong Kong, and on the 16th of June a detachment of Marine Artillery was removed from Canton for the same purpose." Again he mentions no names, but this corresponds with the departure of the Adventure from Hong Kong for the Peiho river on 22nd June 1858, and with paintings XX, XXV and XXVI of the present collection. The gunboat in painting number XX was the Slaney, commanded by a Lieutenant Hoskens. For the remainder of 1858, it seems, the artist stayed in or around Canton. From the information deduced from the paintings, the artist was almost certainly the Major Schomberg who arrived in Hong Kong on board the Adelaide on December 1st, 1857. ================================================================================ 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 51 the Chinese more than all the rest of the British warships put together, Chinese opposition to steamships was overborne after the First China War, and in the years between then and the Second China War 1857-1858, steam navigation in China was established on a secure foundation. During the first two decades of steam, American ships were as prominent as British on the Canton River and on the coast, and sometimes more technically efficient. This was largely because the Americans made good use of their experience on the Hudson and Mississippi Rivers, and also because their early steamships were designed specially for coastal and river conditions. Many of the early British steamships were merely sailing ships equipped with engines. The earliest American steamers were associated with Russell and Company, and Robert Benet Forbes was the man mainly responsible for bringing most of these early steamships to China. The first was the Midas, built at East Boston in 1844, which was the first American steamship to round the Cape of Good Hope, as well as being the first to be seen in China. The Midas arrived at Hong Kong on 21st May 1845, and was put on a twice weekly service between Hong Kong and Canton, the first regular steamship service in China. She also engaged in towing and salvage work, which was usually more profitable than carrying passengers or cargo; so that the advertised regular sailings were often more honoured in the breach than in the observance. The Midas was followed by the wooden screw bark Edith, also built at East Boston, which arrived at Macao on 2nd September 1845 and Hong Kong a few days later. The Edith was originally intended to run in the opium trade between India and China, but plans were changed and she was loaded with general cargo for Shanghai. Bad weather and engine trouble foiled two attempts to make this passage, and the Edith was eventually sent back to Boston via Rio de Janeiro, reconditioned at Boston and then chartered to the United States War Department. In 1846 Forbes sent the small 20 ton screw steamer Firefly on another ship to Hong Kong, and put her in service between Hong Kong and Whampoa until 1849, usually making two trips daily. She was withdrawn in 1849 and sent to California by sailing ship. In 1846 Jardines were successful in inaugurating the first British steamship service on the river, with the Corsair between Hong Kong ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1973 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8910rj06r LEGENDS AND STORIES OF THE NEW TERRITORIES KAM T'IN 錦田 SUNG HOK-P'ANG Kam T'in is one of the oldest villages in the New Territories. During the dynasty of Hau Chau (後周) A.D. 951-959 most of the villagers belonged to the family of Ch'an (陳) and the place was called Ch'an Tin (陳田) meaning Chan's field. In the 6th year of Hoi Po (開寶) A.D. 973 of Sung (宋) dynasty Tang Hon Fat (鄧漢黻) who is said to be the first Tang (鄧) ancestor to come to Kwangtung (廣東) settled in the village, and built the first house at the bottom of a hill called Kwai Kok Shaan (龜角山) about ¼ of a mile away from the present Kam T'in. It was at first called Sham Lei (岑里), but later on they cultivated the surrounding country and the name was changed to Sham Lei T'in (岑里田) which was soon shortened to Sham T'in (岑田) meaning fields surrounding a small hill. The present name of Kam T'in (錦田) or ornamental fields, was given to the village in the 15th year of Maan Lik (萬曆) A.D. 1587 of Ming dynasty (明朝), and it came about in this way. At that time there was a very bad famine in the San On district (新安縣), and the district magistrate Yau T'ai K’în (游大乾) was obliged to open the government granaries and distribute the rice to relieve the people. But when it was finished they were still in need, and the magistrate then sent his officers to all the rich men in the district asking them for donations to help the poor. Most of them contributed a few piculs of rice, but none of them more than a hundred. Then Tang Yuen Fan (鄧元藩) of Sham T'in was visited. He was the richest man in San On district, and was noted for his generosity. He owned over 10,000 Chinese acres of cultivated *There are six sections to this long article, each printed in different numbers of The Hong Kong Naturalist. In this reissue the separate parts will be indicated by figures within square brackets. The first three sections, given here, appeared in the issues for December 1935 and April and June 1936. The rest will follow in the next issue of this Journal. The romanizations used in the original included figures to indicate tone values. These are now excluded. Ed. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1973 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8910rj06r 128 SUNG HOK-P’ANG 1) as his son Hoh Wing (f) was a subordinate officer of this general. Hoh Wing was executed, and all his family punished. Hung Chi being considered a relation although it was only by marriage, was sentenced to banishment. His elder brother, who was the father of three sons, thinking him too young and ignorant and having no children to carry on his family, insisted on taking his place. So in the 26th year of Hung Mo (**) A.D. 1393 of Ming dynasty, Hung Yee went up North to Liao-tung (i★★). His banishment only lasted three years, but when he was free again to go where he liked Hung Yee appears to have been without means to get back to Kam T'in, because there is a story of his arriving in Nanking on foot, so poor that he was forced to beg in the streets and earn money by writing poems. One day a rich man named Ch'an (§) passed him in the street and noticing that his appearance and writing were those of an educated man, spoke to him and asked him his history. Touched by his story Ch'an befriended him, and made him the tutor of his children, but all the time Hung Yee longed for his own home and his own children. Eventually Ch'an suggested that if he provided him with a second wife he might be happier, so he arranged a marriage for him with his adopted daughter, Wong (*). Two years later a son was born called Kuen (§§), but after another year Hung Yee died. Then Ch'an provided the widow with money, and taking her little child, she set off to find her way to Kam T'in to bring Hung Yee's ashes back to the place of his ancestors. After many difficulties she arrived in Kam T'in only to find that Hung Yee's three sons Yam (†), Chan (14) and Yui (†) all grown up by now and not knowing anything of their father's history and second marriage, did not believe her story. Then Wong told them many old tales about Kam T'in that her husband had amused her with in the past in Nanking, and finally persuaded them to acknowledge her identity when she produced a fan with characters on it written in Hung Yee's own writing. So funeral preparations were at once made and customary rites performed in Hung Yee's honour, and Wong and her child were taken into the family. A year later the baby Kuen died and Wong was so upset that she threatened to take her life, and she was only prevented from doing so by Yam who promised to give her his son Naam K'ai () to be her grandson, that is, a son for her dead child. He also built her a house on Kwun Yum Shaan (4) where she could serve her husband's spirit tablet and study Bud- ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1973 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8910rj06r NOTES AND QUERIES 135 (1847, or 26th year of To Kwang), Sz-man-king and one Tam-tsoi, built the Man Mo Miu, and here they "judged the people" in public assembly. In 30th year of To Kwang (1851) the shop keepers of Sheung Wan or Upper Bay ... repaired the Man Mo Temple, elected a Committee, and therein decided all cases of any public interest. Biographical notices of the two community leaders who built the temple are given in an article "The Emergence of a Chinese Elite in Hong Kong” in this Journal, vol. 11 (1971), pp. 80-82, 87-88. Previous to the opening of the Man Mo Temple the Shing Wong Temple may have been used as a Chinese "Town Hall", for as we have noted only one such building is listed in 1845 and 1846, but two are listed in 1847, the date given for the erection of the Man Mo Temple. The two temples were quite close to each other. The Shing Wong Temple was on the western edge of the European part of Victoria and the Man Mo Temple on the eastern edge of the Chinese settlement. A steep and rocky hillside divided the two sections. Confirmation of the 1847 date given in the quoted Chinese account is supported both by the date, Tao Kuang 27th year, inscribed on the bell at the Man Mo Temple and the date of the Crown Lease for Inland Lot 338 upon which the Temple is built, which is 24 June, 1847. A letter dated 29 May 1847, from the Colonial Secretary authorized its issuance with the stipulation that the premises be used as a school. After the building was finished, however, it was used as a temple. In consequence, the Government in March 1848, began charging Crown Rent for the lot. It was then decided that the temple should be rebuilt on a larger scale reflecting the increasing affluence of the Chinese community. An account of the opening of the new building is reported in The Friend of China, 24 May, 1851: The Chinese Community are now enjoying themselves in a way we have never seen before in this Colony, on the occasion of the opening of a spacious Heathen Temple in the Hollywood Road, a few hundred yards from the London Missionary Society's College and Chapel. The Temple is dedicated to a body of the civil and military Gods, and has cost nearly a thousand pounds sterling in erection, ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1973 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8910rj06r 138 NOTES AND QUERIES The question then arose as to what party had legal title to the land. Had the Government acquired title to the land by terms of the Cession of the Island of Hong Kong, or was the Government bound to recognize the title of the original Chinese owners? The island of Hong Kong had belonged to the Tang family, but the small island belonged to the Wong clan who gave it to the Chan clan and allowed them to erect the temple. Unfortunately all the ancient records and title deeds held by the Chan clan had been destroyed in the typhoon of 1874. Apparently the temple had been repaired in 1877, for in that year the Public Works Department had given the caretaker permission to erect a temporary structure near the present temple to store images while repairs were going on. The Land Office had granted a squatter's license to the Worship Committee to occupy the site. Owing to the dispute which arose in 1893 between the Chan clan and the residents of Ap Lei Chau, the Worship Committee and the Kai Fong of Ap Lei Chau petitioned the Government for a grant of a Crown Lease for the site of the temple. The petition states, That the Temple was established almost a hundred years ago and has conferred many benefits on the surrounding inhabitants... That after restoration, the Temple was entrusted to the care of Chan Kwai [Chan A-kwai] by general consent. That unwittingly this man turned out to be of a bad heart, unboundedly avaricious. That he frequently exhorted [sic] the people who went to Worship, and for this he was expelled by consensus of the people at a Public Meeting. That first before he was expelled he being aware of the attitude of the populace towards him, purloined goods belonging to the Temple, and took with him all the Squatter Licenses and went to live on Chinese soil. That as the Temple was erected by the populace, Your Honour's humble petitioners venture to think that it should be managed by the voice of the populace.. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1973 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8910rj06r NOTES AND QUERIES WILLIAM THOMAS MERCER (1822-1879): HONG KONG'S POET LAUREATE? 151 Hong Kong, a city dedicated principally to the acquisition of wealth, has produced few, if any, English writers of quality. But it did provide a home for over twenty years for a poetaster deserving of a niche in D.B. Wyndham Lewis's anthology of bad verse, The Stuffed Owl? This colonial versifier was William Thomas Mercer, who arrived in Hong Kong in 1844 as Private Secretary to his uncle, Sir John Davis, Governor of Hong Kong, became Colonial Secretary in 1854 and remained thereafter the chief executive officer of the Colony until retirement on pension in 1867, being then only forty-five years of age.3 4 In 1869 Mercer appeared on the London literary scene as the author of Under the Peak; or, Jottings in Verse, written during a lengthened residence in the Colony of Hong Kong. This book, an octavo volume of 305 pages, was published in London by John Camden Hotten of 15lb Piccadilly. That Hotten published Mercer's innocuous poems is surprising. That Mercer should have entrusted his precious verses to such a man is even more startling. Hotten, a speculative and disreputable publisher, in 1866 took over the publication of Swinburne's Poems and Ballads after the original publisher, Moxon, had withdrawn, frightened by the clamour that arose over Swinburne's 'fleshly' poems. Hotten, who died in 1873 of 'a surfeit of pork chops', was in his day a notorious publisher of erotica and facetiae. His list included not only Swinburne and, in 1869, the 'unfleshly' Mercer, but such works as Aphrodisiacs and Anti-Aphrodisiacs and A Discourse on the Worship of Priapus. Mercer, who was described by Sir Richard Macdonnell as 'a gentlemanly, scholarly person', was in Hotten's list keeping decidedly curious company. 5 It seems likely, however, that Mercer paid for the cost of publication of Under the Peak, for Hotten was a shrewd businessman and not likely to invest his own money in such a humdrum and tame book. Mercer had, in fact, done this before. In 1867, soon after his return from Hong Kong, he had put out at his own expense Addresses presented to W.T.M., recently Acting Governor of Hong Kong; with services, testimonials, etc., a eulogistic volume prompted by pique at failure to obtain a colonial governorship. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1973 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8910rj06r 152 NOTES AND QUERIES The making of verses was a gentlemanly pursuit in early Victorian days, encouraged of course by the system of classical education which emphasised translation from Latin and Greek and hence a detailed knowledge of the rules—or mechanics—of prosody. Mercer received such a traditional education: he was educated at Exeter College, Oxford, where he took a B.A. degree, and for a time was at the Inner Temple, though he did not take the Bar examination. When he came to Hong Kong as his uncle's private secretary, he sought solace from the chores of day-to-day colonial administration in his poetic exercises and the result was Under the Peak. There are five poems in this book—‘a string of sonnets’—which refer specifically to Hong Kong. They are, respectively: The Peak; The Bay; The Triads' Cave; The Water Fall; The Temple on Taplichow; The Pic Nic Cottage at Heong-Kong; and The Chinaman's Grave on the Lonely Hill Side. According to Mercer's note on the poem, The Triads' Cave, ‘a cavern romantically situated, has now disappeared before the utilitarian demand for granite. It was long the chosen resort of the members of the infamous San hop hwai, or Triad Society', where: The robber horde oath-bound to mutual aid Would plan foul murder and unpitying raid O'er midnight counsel in their secret den? The gem among these sonnets is without doubt The Chinaman's Grave, and should be given in extenso: Oh Chow, or Wong! or by whatever name Men call'd thee, or the Gods may call thee now, Why so extravagantly vast thy claim To mortuary earth upon the brow Of yon fair hill? If all men spread as thou No room for things created would be found Throughout the Seric land, but all the ground Would teem with graves, and well might it be said That living ones were push'd from off their stools By men all useless, now that they are dead And vanish'd. Did Confucius leave no rules To bind a soul's ambition by the tomb? Then let survivors show themselves no fools, But dig thy bones up to make elbow-room ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1974 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077 ADVENTURERS IN HONG KONG 43 When the King had started upon his homeward passage, the Hong Kong police went from house to house collecting the pinchbeck orders which his Majesty had scattered broadcast among his acquaintances; and these pieces of jewelry they subsequently sold by auction for the benefit of the goldsmith who had fashioned them, for the King, like many of his prototypes in history, had proved himself to be a bad paymaster.40 The Duel Did Mayréna and Morès fight a duel in Hong Kong? We do not know for certain; we can only use circumstantial evidence to argue that they probably did. In his memoirs Des Voeux would hardly admit that he allowed a duel to take place in a British colony by his negligence, for under English law duelling was a criminal offence.41 But an encounter between the two adventurers could have easily occurred without attracting public attention—early one morning, say, at Deepwater Bay, then a crescent of lonely sparkling sand, not overlooked by any residence; or in a clearing in the sylvan Glenealy Ravine, a solitary spot frequented only by a few health-conscious walkers. Mayréna and Morès were expert in the use of the foil, épée, and sabre; each, previously, in single combat had killed his man; former soldiers, they were extremely brave men, not likely to slink away from an affront. It should be stressed, however, that duelling was a ritual, designed primarily to remove a public stain from a man's social character: the end of a duel was not copious blood-letting, but rather an affirmation that a gentleman had preserved his social standing and the integrity of his personality.42 To utilise theological concepts again, duelling was a type of sacrament: it was a consecration of the gentleman, and of the core element in this class of person—honour. It seems plausible, then, to suggest that the two duelled but only under certain limiting conditions set out in the procès-verbal. A procès-verbal was the set of rules, established beforehand by the seconds of the duellists, which defined the conditions of the duel—often a single shot fired over the opponent's head or blithely into the distance, a thrust or a parry, would suffice to accomplish the ritual. No doubt Mayréna and Morès did simply that—they flexed their muscles, brandished their spurs in public. Then all was over; honour satisfied; each returned to the Hong Kong Hotel and to loud wassail. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1974 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077 48 H. J. LETHBRIDGE On 9 June, after the party had left Mechiguig and was passing through a grove of tamarisks, Bechaoui, who had now joined the caravan, suddenly seized Morès' carbine and unhorsed him. He was cut in the head by a blow from a sword but managed to get on his feet and back up against a tree, from which position the lion-hearted adventurer opened fire with his revolver on his assassins. Surrounded by over forty Touaregs, he fought bravely, killing and wounding a number of his assailants. Then he was felled finally by two shots, and a knife plunged into his heart. And so the Emperor of the Badlands died amidst his servants in the desert. It is not necessary to detail what happened after the Marquis' death—the long search for and trial of his assassins, 52 his apotheosis as a great national hero, the creation of a nationalist legend—except to add that his body was recovered by a French patrol, shipped to Marseilles; then conveyed to Paris and to a magnificent ceremony at the Cathedral of Notre Dame. The funeral oration was declaimed by Maurice Barrès, the novelist and perfervid nationalist; the distinguished mourners were joined by contingents of butchers from La Villette, though accounts do not tell us whether they came wearing their Stetsons. The London Times reported of the funeral; Speeches were delivered today in which the murder of Morès was attributed to the Jews and the English and the listeners cried, "A bas l'Angleterre! A bas les Juifs!” Even on his catafalque the stone-cold Morès was a centre of agitation. It is not a coincidence, I feel, that many people continued to doubt the official versions of the deaths of both these adventurers. Although Owen, who signed Mayréna's death certificate, declared that death was due to snakebite, the symptoms exhibited by the dying man were not those usually associated with death from a venomous snake—there was only one puncture of the skin and death came too rapidly. It is possible, then, that Mayréna either killed himself by taking poison and pricking his own leg to simulate a snakebite; or that the libidinous Mayréna was killed by a poison arrow shot by a jealous Malay. Morès' death, on the other hand, has been blamed by French nationalists on the dastardly British Secret Service and even, according to another version, on a conspiracy hatched by Constans, his political allies and Jewish friends. In both cases we are not likely to resolve the puzzle at this date. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1974 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077 H. J. LETHBRIDGE European expansion and domination that ended in 1914 provided a more richly fertile environment for this social type. Adventurers do not compose a social group held together by common beliefs or ideology like anarchists, bolsheviks or suffragettes; rather they are supreme individualists and their individualism and egomania asserts itself most brutally in periods of rapid social change, in periods of social dislocation, fluid social boundaries, disorder and political ambiguity. Adventurers surface in greater numbers, then, under particular social conditions; they can impose their will, in the short run at least, by force, bluff, imposture or sheer physical courage,56 either because their social audience is credulous or because their victims desire victimisation, as a martyr seeks martyrdom; for the need to be dominated is as strong sometimes as the urge to dominate. Domination means accepting constraints, and constraint may bring a measure of psychic security and peace. South-East Asia, Central and South America, the Wild West and the Pacific, all provided an ideal terrain for the adventurers' individual obsessions, whether it was the pursuit of power, wealth, status, excitement, luxury or sensuality. And these were areas, of course, where the white man increasingly exercised control, by means of his advanced technology and dominant culture. Mayréna in the land of the Moï and Morès in the Bad Lands of North Dakota, a frontier area only recently cleared of Sioux, lived outpost lives on the margin of civilisation—one became, briefly, the King of the Sedangs, the other, likewise, the Emperor of the Bad Lands. Conditions in these places were perfect for the seigneurial role they sought to play. Such conditions would not be found easily today. At this time, two other factors favoured the adventurer class: respect for titles and poor communications. Mayréna succeeded in making dupes of several influential and wealthy persons because they were deeply impressed by his assumed rank—the 'King of the Sedangs' or 'le comte de Drey'. Morès was a nobleman and a grand seigneur by birth; the fact that his name and that of his noble house could be found enshrined in print in the Almanach de Gotha seduced people of lesser rank. The European bourgeoisie achieved economic and a larger degree of political power in the nineteenth century; this parvenu class, ostensibly resentful of social distinctions was, on the other hand, often mesmerised by titles of any kind. This was true even in democratic America: the shady thespians who ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1974 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077 122 JAMES HAYES the settlement into a fortress to guard against marauders. This involved construction of a walled enclosure, built of stone, and the replacing of the existing wooden gateway by a stone structure on the advice of the writer of the clan record, then an old man. As the positioning of the wall and its main gate was of great importance, for geomantic reasons as well as military considerations, a message was sent to Shing Mun* to invite a man named Cheung Lam-to, presumably a noted geomancer and perhaps a distant relative, to advise on the siting and on auspicious days for carrying out the work. The record ends: Work began on the 13th day of the 8th moon of the 8th year of Chia Ch'ing, and the gate was fixed on the 16th day. All the village men and women co-operated in the work which took a month to complete. Other areas of the Delta suffered in these years. In 1789, the 54th year of the Ch'ien Lung reign, an official of Hsiang-shan, the district in which Macau is situated, led an expedition in person against a considerable pirate known as the "wave-leveller".1 The scourge continued in the Delta and riverine areas of Kwangtung for over twenty years, and reached its worst proportions in the years 1807-1810. An interesting account of an enforced stay of eleven weeks and three days with a pirate fleet in 1809 was given by Richard Glasbrooke, the mate of an East Indiaman, who was captured by them. This fleet spent a long time on and near Lantau which probably suffered from their levies and depredations. One of these pirates, Cheung Po-tsai, is remembered today in the Hong Kong region, where local stories link many places with his activities.3 With the help of the Macau authorities whose squadron fought a sea battle off Lantau in January 1810, Cheung was blockaded in the shallow waters of the bay of Hsiang-shan and was induced to capitulate with over 270 junks, 16000 men, 5000 women, 7000 swords and jingals and 1200 guns.4 1 Waley, 1956, p. 176. 2 Neumann, pp. 97-125. 3 Lo, 1963, pp. 106-118. See also the Ch'ao-lien of Hsin-hui gazetteer pp. 281-284 and Centenary History of Hong Kong, pp. 12-14. Cheung's memory lingers strongly in the region, though most attributions are unsubstantiated and many stories are probably apocryphal. 4 Montalto de Jesus, pp. 231-248: he calls him Ĉam Pao Sai or Chang Pao. *In the Tsuen Wan sub-district of the New Territories. See Gazetteer, pp. 147-148. ================================================================================ 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 127 surprising that the Governor of Hong Kong wrote to London in April 1899, "The Tai Po district is well known in Canton to be turbulent, that to the northeast 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". When making his farewell speech to the Legislative Council of the Colony four years later, he described its residents as 'a large agricultural population with a reputation for turbulence .... and with a rooted objection to any interference with their settled habits or customs'.2 Smuggling was common throughout the region, whether of salt or opium. The older villagers admit to their complicity in these varied activities: an old man born on Lamma Island in 1883 told me in 1960, with a twinkle in his eye, that he had been in all lines of business. During all this time the situation in inland areas of the hsien was apparently no better than on the sea and coast. The situation in the late 1850s was described in eloquent terms by the German missionary Krone who had been in the area since his arrival in China in 1850. He spoke of the large bands of robbers which frequently pass to and from through the country pillaging the villages and parties of travellers ....3 He explained that 'when the Mandarins intend to levy taxes, they announce their intention to the gentry of the villages, one or two weeks, or sometimes a month, before their arrival. They then make a progress through the district, accompanied by a sufficient force to protect themselves against large bands of robbers, which sometimes have the audacity to attack the tax collectors if the escort be not strong'.4 He emphasised 'how troubled and insecure the normal condition of this district is, and for a very long time has been'.5 Krone then noted an additional, and in southeast China characteristic, source of insecurity. 'Not only are robbers and pirates to 1 SP, 1899, p. 528. 2 Hansard, 1903, p. 53. 3 Krone, p. 114. 4 Krone, p. 119. 5 Krone, p. 114. The wider area bore no better reputation. Writing of the Tan-shui district of neighbouring Kwei-shin hsien, the Hong Kong Daily Telegraph of 13th March 1879, quoting from the Catholic Register stated ".... now and then the Chinese authority has to send some military Mandarins with extraordinary powers to clear the place by taking up a good number of robbers: and only last year the great military Mandarin told one of our Missionaries that of one village he has dozens of names in view for the next execution". ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1974 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077 LEGENDS & STORIES OF THE NEW TERRITORIES 161 Another ancestral hall, built by the Tang family was less fortunate. The story goes that in the 1st year of Ka Hing (✯✯) A.D. 1796 of Ts'ing dynasty, the sons of Tang Yue Cheung (**) decided to build an ancestral hall worthy to house the tablet of their illustrious ancestress, the princess. So they built a house of “kak muk” (**) in T’aai Họng (✯✯✯) village, and in shape the house was like a king's palace. At that time the district magistrate of Sun On was a man nicknamed “Hungry Bug" on account of his habit of collecting "squeeze" wherever he could. When he heard of the new building being erected in Kam T'in, and how magnificent it was, he scented a chance to make money. So he sent a message to the Tangs to say he would like to inspect their new acquisition. The Tangs were much dismayed; being familiar with the character of their district officer they knew quite well the object of his visit, they did not want to pull down the house yet its very existence was an indication of their wealth and prosperity. In the village of Lung Kwat T'au (#) where the villagers are Tangs too, being descendants of the first son of the princess, there was a portrait of the princess and the Tangs of Kam T'in borrowed it and hung it up in the entrance of the hall. When the district officer saw it he was filled with awe, and hastily made obeisance to it. He was so impressed that he dared not demand money from the descendants of so distinguished a lady, and after making a show of being pleased he stayed one night, and then took his departure. Eventually the picture had to be returned to its rightful owners, and the Kam T’in men fearing further trouble, pulled the hall down, but the foundation stones, overgrown with weeds and grass can still be seen. The legends of Kam T'in are curiously mixed up with tales of buried treasure. One story tells how at the end of the Ming dynasty the Tangs wished to build an ancestral hall for the tablet of their eleventh ancestor, Tang Kwong Yue ( ). Tang Ping Yee (*) (a grandson of Tang Kwong Yue) and eight of Tang Ping Yee's cousins chose what was, according to one "Fung shui" man, a very lucky day to put up the central beam of the house, but a few days later they found that the beam was putting forth shoots. The people considered this to be a bad omen, so they consulted a more reliable fortune-teller, who declared that the day had been a lucky day, but for building boats, not houses! The people at once pulled down the beam, the time happened to be the season of the dragon boat festival, and the villages decided to make the discarded ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1974 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077 162 SUNG HOK-PANG beam into a new dragon boat. When it was launched into the water, a strange thing happened. The boat flew up into the air, and immediately a great quantity of treasure, gold, silver and precious stones fell into the boat from the sky. When it was full the boat came down to the water, and the people were able to empty it. Then it flew into the air again, and came down again with fresh supplies of treasure. This happened many times until there were untold riches for the Tangs. A few years later, they chose another lucky day and erected a new beam and the hall was completed and given the name Loi Shing Tong1. It still exists in Shui T'au Village2, on the left-hand side of Hung Shing Kung (plate 20, figure I. H.K.N., VI, Nos. 3 and 4. “Hung Shing Kung,—the oldest temple in old Ch'an T'in.") under the name of Ts'z T'ong Tsai (small ancestral hall).3 Then followed many years of prosperity for Kam T'in until times of trouble came to all the countryside and the family had to abandon the village temporarily on account of bandits. Before leaving Kam T'in, however, they buried there what remained of the treasure. This story was handed down from generation to generation more as legend than true fact. During the Ham Fung4 (咸豐) years, 1851-1861, of Ts'ing dynasty, a man called Tang Paak Luk (鄧伯祿) of Kam Hing Wai (錦慶圍) farmed the land where the treasure was supposed to be buried. One day he sent a labourer, Ch'an A Faat (陳亞發) to work in the particular field, and in the evening Ch'an returned to the farmer's house with a gold rope which he declared he had dug up. Everyone was very pleased at first, but gradually it appeared that bad luck had come with the rope. The farm beasts began to sicken, many died and then the farmer's family became ill. So the rope was re-buried without more ado, and prosperity was at once restored to Tang Paak Luk. Another story is of a very poor farmer who at a different time rented the same ground. One day he dug up a brick that shone brightly in the sun. As he examined it, thinking it must be silver, he carelessly dropped it on his foot, and broke his big toe. Being too poor to pay for a doctor or even to buy curatives, the farmer gave the brick to his wife to break up, and they found that it was without doubt real silver. So the wife was able to buy medicine and consult a doctor with the aid of the brick, but it was not until all the brick 1 Plate 31 at rear of this Volume. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1974 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077 LEGENDS & STORIES OF THE NEW TERRITORIES 163 was gone that the toe was cured, so the farmer was none the better off for his share of the treasure! After that no-one else tried to dig the ground. The story of "Ngan T'au Laan” (*) “silver coins come to their new home" is firmly believed in by many villagers to-day. It is said to have happened during the K'in Lung () years A.D. 1736-1795, of Ts'ing dynasty at the place now called Naam T'eng (✯✯) south of Kat Hing Wai (‡ƒj[]). One morning the villagers were startled by the sound of a ringing bell far away in the sky, and running out of their houses to discover what it was, they saw a cloud of things, shining black and white, like a number of herons flying in the sky towards Kam Tin. When the cloud reached a certain house it flew round and round above the roof but did not come down. Then the people were able to see that the cloud consisted of "man ngan" () pure silver sycee. They all cried out "Ngan-t'au-laan! Ngan-t'au-laan!” The aged grandmother of the house at once got out a table and put on it three cups of tea with joss sticks and knelt down to make “k’au t’aus" (°F) to the coins, as the people said that it was the only way to get the silver to come down. But after all the members of the household had done their “kau-tau” the silver still remained flying in the air. Then the grandmother suddenly remembered that the baby of the family was lying asleep inside in his cradle and, thinking that perhaps the coins were meant for him, she woke him up and, carrying him, she again knelt down and bowed to the coins with the baby in her arms. The money instantly dropped to the ground but on being examined it was found to be covered with mud. At this the woman grumbled, "If you are indeed my grandson's coins, you should clean yourselves before you come. How can I pick you up, all covered in mud?” Then the coins started rolling themselves round on the ground, it looked as if they were trying to clean themselves in this way, but this was only for a while for they suddenly rose up in the air again and flew away. The astonished onlookers were very indignant with the old woman, and began to scold her, saying "You should not have spoken in such a way to those lucky coins. Why could you not have picked them up and cleaned them yourself?" Then they heard the sound of the silver bell again, and the cloud had come back and on reaching the roof of the same house, the coins dropped to the ground, quite clean like new silver. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1974 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077 LEGENDS & STORIES OF THE NEW TERRITORIES 169 South and North of this country; later, when the number of descendants became very many, we lived apart in the two waais T'aai Hong and Kat Hing; round both of these waais were built tall walls and deep ditches were dug round them. We think that the idea of doing this by our ancestors, was to protect our houses and guard them against robbers only. When during the 25th year of Kwong Sui of Ts'ing dynasty, on Kei Hoi year, i.e. A.D. 1899, the Government of Ts'ing leased the South part of Sham Chan to the British Government, in that time, the Ts'ing Government did not inform the people of this beforehand, so when the British army arrived, the ignorant people of the country were inflamed by some persons and arose to resist them, the people of our waais being afraid to be disturbed, in order to avoid them they shut the iron gates firmly. The British army suspecting that bad characters were hiding inside, then assaulted and made the gates open. After they went into the Waai, they understood that the people inside were all good men and women, so did not give them any bad treatment, but just had the iron gates taken away. Now, the 26th descendant, Paak Kau, represented the people of these waais to petition the Hong Kong Government, asking the Government to bring the matter before London, and have the iron gates returned, and re-hung as before. All the expenses were paid by the Hong Kong Government. We also thank H.E. the Governor, Sir Edward Stubbs for his presence at the ceremony; from this can be seen the deep kindness and great virtue of the British Government, and shows that our people are pleased and sincerely submitted, therefore we specially carve the above on the tablet, in order to remember and never forget this kindness. Great Britain, May, 26th, 1925 Chinese Republic 14th year, on Yuet Hoi year the "yuen" 4th month, 5th, the lucky day. we carved.' Another ancient wall in the South district is Naam T'eng (†4) where the silver came to and where Tang Naam had his house. It is to be found to the South of Kat Hing Wai, but no houses are left inside. The North district, Pak Wai, has two villages, Shui T'au ("The head of the stream") and Shui Mei ( ) “the end of the stream," Tang K'ei Fong ( ) and Tang K'ei Wah ( ) both from T'aai Hong Tsuen were the first persons who lived in ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1974 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077 184 SUNG HOK-PANG again, and the judas tree revived, and soon it was covered with blossoms and looked a beautiful sight. From this story the three Tangs had learnt a lesson, and realizing that any one branch of the family was unable to build a hall alone, they combined together and completed one hall, naming it Mau King T'ong "The luxuriant judas-tree Hall.” Although there is no record of the year that the hall was completed, the following is what is known of its history. The building was started by Tang Mau Wai, who passed the Tsun Sz degree in the 24th year of Hong Hei, A.D. 1685. The hall was rebuilt by Tang Shiu Chau (RA) who passed Sui Kung A† degree in the 1st year of Kin Lung, A.D. 1736; and was repaired twice, first by Tang Hei Sui (###) who passed Yan Kung Shaang in the 21st year of Ka Hing, A.D. 1816, and secondly by Tang Ming Shiu (*) a Lam Shaang during the To Kwong period (the 1st year of To Kwong was A.D. 1821.) The T'in Hau Temple (A) Queen of Heaven Temple, in Shui Mei village, was first built during the Hong Hei period (A.D. 1662-1722) of Ts'ing dynasty and possesses a fine bell of 180 catties in weight which was presented by Tang Ch'un Fooi (**) a Kung Shaang in the 10th year of Kin Lung, A.D. 1745. It is said that the tone of the bell is very clear and can be heard from ten Chinese miles away. The Kam T'in people say that one of the past Governors of Hong Kong heard about it and visited Kam T’in to try the bell, which he agreed was as beautiful as reported. For a long time the temple was in a bad state of repair, and the bell had to be kept in a private house where those wishing to, were allowed to see it. Lately the temple has been repaired and the bell re-instated in it; also an incense burner that was presented by Tang Yiu King (*) and his son Tang Chan Suen (**) in the 11th year of Kin Lung A.D. 1746, Kwong Yue T'ong (***) in Taai Hong village is the ancestral hall of Tang Man Wai, who was the only man to pass the Tsun Sz degree in the New Territories (See H.K.N. IV. p. 106). The building is quite a large one, and the ancestral fund belonging to this hall is a very large sum and is considered the richest in the New Territories. For many years $100 was given each year to each family of Tang Man Wai's descendants for their New Year expenses. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1974 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077 232 Sam Tung Uk NOTES AND QUERIES The Sam Tung Uk (village), is a small, square-walled lineage village dating back to the 18th century. It was settled by the Chan (陳) family. Before the Ch'ien Lung period of the Ch'ing Dynasty (清朝), the Chan clan lived in Ning Fa District, Ting Chow prefecture in Fukien Province (福建省). One of the branches then moved to Lo Fong, of Po On District* in Kwangtung Province (廣東省). Later Chan Yam Shing (the 13th generation) came to Tsuen Wan (old name Chin Wan meaning shallow bay) with four sons. Guided by his uncle (ancestor of Kwan Mun Hau Village, Tsuen Wan), they took up farming. They worked very hard, put up sea walls, reclaiming much land, and were content. Straw huts were built firstly at Lo Uk Cheung (羅屋丈) (where Block 2 of Tai Wo Hau Estate, Tsuen Wan, is now located) in the 22nd year of Ch'ien Lung, (1757). The elder son, Kin Sheung (堅常) was a herbalist doctor, renowned in fung shui and possessed a wealthy home. The other sons, Ying Sheung (應常), Wai Sheung (維常) and Cheuk Sheung (卓常) were farmers, living moderately. Kin Sheung, after settling down, searched around Tsuen Wan hoping to find a suitable site to establish a village. He found that a piece of land situated on the right side of Ngau Kwu Tun (牛牯墩) (present site of Tsuen Wan Government Secondary Technical School) would be the best, but it belonged to the Sun clan of San Tsuen at that time.† His brothers were told to contact the Sun family, hoping for a possibility to purchase it. One day a member of Sun clan turned up being, at that time, urgently in need of money. He offered to sell the much-desired land but no decision could be made as Kin Sheung was not at home. Mr Sun then said that he would go to Shing Mun to consult with other rich men who were likely purchasers. The brothers debated what should be done but in their elder brother's absence were unable to make any decision. When their elder brother returned home and heard of the Sun Clan's proposal, he was delighted and rushed to Wo Yee Hop (old name Woo Lee Hop meaning Fox's Valley), and the bargain was made. * Strictly speaking, San On (新安) at that time. †新村孫旗 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1975 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d 190 DONALD C. BOWIE a patient of ours. He drew our rations from the store and cooked for us for a time, but I came to consider that the rest of the hospital could feel that the members of our mess were doing better than their fellows. Our rations had of course been weighed and issued by the steward and conformed exactly to the scales in general use. I suppose the mess did benefit in that the cooking was done for a small number and for that reason was less liable to the bad days that others experienced. Because of this advantage, I stopped all separate cooking for the staff officers' mess early on, and thereafter we drew cooked food from the kitchen like other messing units and in due course, also like them we drew our uncooked rice from the store and had it cooked in the main kitchen. Another problem that beset us was the distribution of the small quantities of extras like peanut butter, syrup etc., received from our Hong Kong friends usually, or from the Red Cross. One method would have been to issue at once the total amount to which each member of the hospital population was entitled and then leave him to use his stock as he wished. I was drawn to this solution which would make every man responsible for using the extra delicacy as he wished, but in the end, up till 1945, we issued the total entitlement in small quantities daily over a number of days, each issue being enough to flavour the rice dish or a meal. The decision to issue these substances in small quantities was made in the early days when shortages were acute and deficiency diseases were to be seen on all sides. One aim was to avoid the acquisition by individuals of a stock they could not always guard and which would be a temptation for others to steal. The other aim was to make it as difficult as possible to sell any part of a patient's nourishment for cigarettes, which some did. This policy of small issues was not accepted by many without protest, but in the circumstances of the time I believe it was the right one. In Kowloon in 1945 in the easier times then prevailing we issued his total entitlement of such foods to each man in bulk. We had a community rightly watchful over its interests, particularly its own nutrition, for there before its eyes existed evidence of the results of an inadequate diet. Occasionally the concern of individuals showed itself in a rancorous manner and from time to time, especially in the early days though remarkably infrequently, anonymous letters were slipped into my office drawing attention to alleged shortcomings on the part of members of the staff for whom ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1976 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q 166 DAVID FAURE in Sheung Yiu, Tsak Yue Wu, Tai Mong Tsai, She Tau, Shek Hang, Tai Long, Wo Mei, Nam Wai, and Ho Chung.1 Finally, the pirates must not be omitted in any discussion of the early history of Sai Kung. It would seem that, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the pirates were most rampant in the outer reaches of the region. Seung Sz Wan and Hang Hau Village kept two guns on the two arms of the bay to be directed against pirates. Madam Lau of Seung Sz Wan remembered that the pirates once came into the village, and took away the villagers' pigs. In Tan Ka Wan, there were bandits in the late 1920's and 1930's, and the young men had to keep watch regularly.1 15 Up to the early 1900's, despite the economic development, Sai Kung was not yet in any strict sense a "district". There is no indication that the villagers of the time thought of the area that is now Sai Kung District as a single territorial unit. Crucial to the creation of the district was the founding of Sai Kung Market. SAI KUNG MARKET AND ITS TRADE The San On Gazetteer of 1819 did not consider either Sai Kung or Hang Hau to be a market. Unlike other markets in the New Territories, periodic market gatherings were not held here at any time. As Mr. Yau T’aam Shang explained it to us, "Sai Kung in those days was not a market; it was a moorage inlet."10 In 1835, Lai Tak Yau, a Tanka fisherman who sometimes served as pilot for Western sailing boats, took by force some four thousand dollars from one that was hit by storm. Out of this, he spent over a hundred dollars to settle his debts with the general store San Ue T'aai on Leung Shuen Wan. He went on a shopping spree, and spent more than a hundred dollars on Peng Chau and Cheung Chau, buying silk goods from the shops in the latter place. He left most of the balance with a certain Wong Yau Kwong, of Kowloon, a Tanka boatman who owned a large fishing boat and moored at Fat Tong Mun. Wong, in turn, went to San Ue T'aai, and purchased four hundred and fifty dollars' worth of provisions, and then, because he thought ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1976 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q 84 ELIZABETH L. JOHNSON or keening done at weddings and funerals. They did little, if any, embroidery, home weaving of fabrics, or sewing: this work was generally done by specialists. The main reason for this very limited development of textile arts was, in addition to the prevailing poverty of the area, the fact that all younger women were engaged in heavy labour outside the home. While most of the housework and child-care was managed by elderly women, the younger women did most, if not all, of the agricultural work, and in addition often did heavy carrying work for wages. Many of the men were away for extended periods of time, working either in the urban areas of Hong Kong or abroad; some had local businesses, and others did not work at all. As a result, in many families, women had primary responsibility for subsistence agriculture, bearing an extremely heavy burden of work. The following is the daily work schedule 25 years ago of a woman now 55 years old, a schedule which was repeated in basic outline by many other informants. “I got up at 5:00 and fed the baby then I made a fire and boiled water and put rice porridge on to cook then at 6:00 I went to carry water, making four trips to the well then I went to the fields to water the vegetables I cut the vegetables and took them to market I used the money to buy food and returned home at 8:30 we had breakfast of rice porridge then I went to the Texaco oil company to carry kerosene at 12:30 I came home for lunch I worked again from 1:00 to 5:00 carrying kerosene when I got home I cleaned the pig pen then I went to work again in the fields in winter I returned home at 7:00, in summer at 8:00 after dinner I bathed the children then I carried several loads of firewood then I prepared food for the pigs I fed the baby and went to sleep at 11:00” This woman had eight children. Such a daily schedule left her little time for any other pursuits. According to another woman, now 80 years old: “When I was eight or ten years old I began to cut grass and carry firewood. I went with a group of girls, never alone. I was married when I was sixteen. After my marriage I had to work. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1976 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q "PATTERNED BANDS" IN THE N.T. OF HONG KONG 85 cut grass for fuel, carried firewood, and farmed. The housework and cooking were done by my mother-in-law, who also helped me in the fields. After she died, I took over all the responsibilities myself. No men helped me with the farm work, and we did not have the money to hire labourers. I did the plowing myself, even with a baby on my back. I cut grass and sold the grass and vegetables. I worked and struggled hard. I also worked for the Texaco company carrying steel and kerosene. In the evenings I wove patterned bands. I could weave one in two or three nights, but I never had time during the day. Other women stated that they had worked at weaving patterned bands in the evenings when they had time, during bad weather and the agricultural slack season, and at festivals. Girls learned to weave the bands while in their teens. They were taught by their mothers or by other village women. They wove bands for their own use, as well as for those friends and lineage sisters who were unable to learn the complex technique. They were sometimes even woven for sale. The technique of weaving patterned bands is complex and difficult to learn, although the loom itself is extremely simple, with no frame. It would not doubt take some years for girls to learn well, when they were doing other work in addition. Those who became good weavers were able to imitate patterns on sight, and to devise their own patterns. The bands are woven on a simple backstrap loom: see Plate 1.* The warp is a continuous circle, one end of which passes over the corner of an ordinary square wooden stool, the other end being fastened to a belt which is tied around the weaver's waist. The warp is held taut by the distance which she sits from the stool, on another stool. The weaver prepares the warp by winding a series of circles, half the length of a finished band in diameter, between a finger of her left hand and the corner of the stool, holding the thread taut at all times. If the warp is to have, for example, red even threads () and white odd threads (*), she carefully winds nine pairs of red circles, then ties white thread to the end of the red and winds nine pairs of white circles. If the edges (i) of the band are to be narrow stripes of different colours, she might then wind four pairs each of red, yellow, and green. After tying the ends of the threads so that a continuous circle is formed, she then inserts * Plates 1 - 14 illustrate this article. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1976 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q 152 W. A. REYNOLDS engine. The petrol/gas changeover valve has the normal carburettor mounted above it and is controlled from the cab. The engine is normally started on petrol and then the valve slowly moved over so that a petrol/gas/air mixture is used and then gas/air only. Operating Routine The daily fuelling, maintenance and starting procedure took two men about two hours of dusty and dirty work. Charcoal was bought in villages in stick form (rather larger than usually found in Hong Kong). It was then broken into pieces 1-1/4” size, sifted and put into bags. This was often done at the end of the day's run. If charcoal was good and cheap, 300 lbs or more would be bought. Consumption would be a 100 lbs, or so a day. In the morning before starting the whole gas system was cleaned, the firebox door dropped, ash removed, cyclone emptied and bag filters removed, turned inside out and shaken (the dirtiest job!). All was then replaced, the hopper filled with the broken charcoal and all doors to the system made air tight. Any air leakage meant loss of power. The fire was started using a torch dipped in oil and brought up to heat using a hand wound centrifugal blower mounted on the tuyere. This could be 15-20 minutes work performed by the junior crew member while the driver took a quick breakfast. The engine was then started on petrol and changed to gas/air. Passengers were loaded aboard and the journey recommenced. Efficiency of Performance As has been mentioned previously, the efficiency of the charcoal conversions improved with time and experience. The contributing factors were:-- 1. Raising the compression ratio of the engines. This was done by machining off the cylinder heads by (writing from memory) up to 0.030" on the Chevrolets and 0.080" on the Dodge trucks. The first truck on which this was tried was No. 38 and was christened "Anne Boleyn" in consequence. She was a well behaved lady after the operation. 2. Fitting a manual advance/retard control to the ignition. Gas/air, with a slower burning rate than petrol vapour, requires the spark earlier in the cycle. 3. General improvement in construction and air tightness of the gas systems. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1976 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q 184 MICHAEL SMITHIES are those that form a complete contrast with the classical structures of the first major Burmese capital. These are the 19th century temples in wood. The Shwenandaw was built by Thibaw in 1880, five years before he was taken away in captivity by the British and the kingdom ended. Most of the materials came from part of a palace occupied by King Mindon which was dismantled. The elaboration of the carving is overwhelming and one suspects that to like it, after the sober majesty of Pagan, is to border on bad taste. The Shweinbin to the south of the city is even more elaborate, and still being a very active monastery the monks' saffron robes form a strong contrast to the teak wood greying with age, sun and rain on the outside. Like all wooden buildings these temples are raised above the ground on pillars and the space beneath is used for storage. Mandalay has few other temples of note; those on the hill are mostly modern, and the Kuthodaw near its base dates from 1857 and is more important for the 729 stone slabs containing all the Buddhist scriptures which King Mindon had made for the Fifth Synod. The authorized version of the Tripitaka was inscribed on the slabs, each beneath its own vaulted canopy. Atumashi was built in 1880 and resembles more an Italian palace, but as only the base remains after a fire in 1890 it is hard to judge fairly. The Mahamuni was rebuilt after a fire in the 19th century and is architecturally without interest. The gold-covered bronze image is much revered and seen at night with chanting monks and the faithful at its feet is impressive. The most interesting thing in the temple, apart from the stalls lining the temple approach, are the six bronze figures in one of the adjacent buildings. They are two of men, one probably a warrior, three of lions, and one of a three-headed elephant (erewar) and are undoubtedly Khmer, possible of the 12th century. They were probably taken by the Siamese at the sack of Angkor in the 15th century and removed to Ayuthia. The Burmese king Bayinnaung took them from Ayuthia when he sacked the city in 1563 to the then capital at Pegu. King Rajagyi of Arakan took them as spoils of war from Pegu and they were taken from Arakan by Bodawpaya in 1784 to Mandalay. The journey to Sagaing takes one past the numerous sites of the capitals of the Alaungpaya dynasty which estimated that a new centre would give a new direction to adverse fortune associated with the old. In this way Shwebo was capital from 1752 to 1765, Ava from 1765 to 1783, Amarapura from 1783 to 1823, Ava again ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1976 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q 230 MAURICE FREEDMAN rich man from Hong Kong). Similarly, the fung shui of buildings plays a less important role in the city than the country. There are naturally severe limits to what can be done in the urban area to extract the best geomantic possibilities from a given site and to avoid places which have been labelled as bad fung shui risks. By and large, I think we may say that in the city fung shui is a retrospective explanation of fortune rather than a prediction of it, and that in urban conditions far more reliance is placed on the dominant geomantic effects of crucial sites (government offices and other public and semi-public buildings). City-dwellers conducting a stranger around their streets point out to him the residences of rich men which have brought them good fortune or the houses which, because of their unfavourable sites, have exerted a malignant influence on their inhabitants. (A new road, pointing like a deadly arrow to Mr. A's house, brought him disaster. Mr. B enjoys the protection of wind and excluded and static water). In the countryside, in contrast, the geomancy of buildings is both forward-and backward-looking. The height of a new village house must take into account the height and position of the ancestral halls and other houses, in order that the fortunes of other people may not be prejudiced by one's efforts to improve one's own. In a remarkably interesting case being argued out during my stay in the New Territories a disproportion in the two halves of the roofs of new houses was the cause of an agitation which cost the people responsible for the houses much money and frustration. It was held that, the front sections of the roofs being longer than the rear, the future of the inhabitants would be cut short. As for retrospective geomancy, misfortune - disease, death, lack of male children, poor harvests, and so on - may come to be attributed to faults in fung shui which are then put right. The entrance to a wall round the village (wai) may need to be protected by new 'arms' or skewed to alter the orientation of the whole village. A building thought to be too high may be lowered. Again, good or bad fortune may be attributed to earlier fung shui actions for which in fact there is no evidence. It is a common feature of New Territories village organisation that communities which are now solidly or predominantly composed of one clan were in time past made up of several. The disappearance of the weaker ones, through emigration or failure to reproduce, is often said to have followed from their geomantic indiscretion or, as in a case which has impressed itself on me, from the superior geomantic techniques of the survivors. In this case the sole clan ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1977 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n 88 K. G. STEVENS of a better place. In most temples he stands slightly off to one side from the middle of the Under Altar behind the incense pot. The same God Carver explained that the other, similar image in the Under Altar, is the Black and White Demon (). He too is standing, dressed in sackcloth and has his tongue protruding. He has a black face, the same four characters down the front of his dunce's cap. He too, holds the wand with its tattered decoration which he uses to lead souls safely into the Afterworld and before the Judges of Purgatory. He is sometimes known as "The one who leads the souls" (). The usual image, the Local Wealth God who is occasionally known as the Filial son (#7) according to the Macanese carver, is taller, stands in sackcloth, but with a white face and wearing a dunce's cap without characters. This statement by a man who is at the heart of image making and whose other statements have been well borne out by temple keepers in both Hong Kong and Macau, has thrown a cat amongst the pigeons, as a careful examination of Under Altars reveals that very few images have black faces or characterless caps. All, with and without characters and with black or white faces, are referred to without exception by the individual temple keepers as the Local Wealth God. They added, however, that they may also be called by the less polite and now old-fashioned title of Wu Ch'ang Kuei, the "Unpredictable Demon" (), a term Burkhardt1 consistently used for the demonic policeman who arrests souls. The same God Carver also explained that the Wu Ch'ang Kuei quite frequently has red tears running down his face because, apparently, as a youth he so got on his Mother's nerves that she cried herself to death. Covered by remorse and crying until he drew blood, he set himself the task of guiding first her soul, and then souls of others, safely into the through the Underworld. The primary function of the Local Wealth God, according to the majority of temple keepers concerned, is to provide unexpected money (always in small quantities), and particularly for luck in gambling, especially horse racing. He is prayed to by gamblers who are going through a lengthy and damaging run of bad luck. In addition to this well-known ability to provide small quantities of unexpected money, a few temple keepers understand that, dressed in hemp, he has the power to drive away sickness demons and, if (1) V. R. Burkhardt: Chinese Creeds and Customs: Vols. 1-3. 1952-5 Hong Kong (SCMP). ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1977 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n 136 W. J. HINTON on sanitation and the care of a little system of hill tracks which might serve as a model to the New Territories. Their King is the District Officer South, the "Lord of the Isles," but Kaifong and Residents Association alike show a praiseworthy spirit of independence, and a capacity for governing themselves; moreover, the injunction “Agree with thine adversary quickly" is well understood and followed in China, even under British rule. But we have drifted from geography into politics, like better men before us, and it would be well to pass back to the native community, through the terraced fields dotted with blue-clad figures bowed over the hoe, or shuffling along the narrow paths with a yoke of watering buckets, or cutting and pulling the beetroots, carrots, and cabbages. We will go back to the Eastern end of the village and then traverse its length, completing our brief survey by passing out to our waiting boat over the harbour, and so back to Hongkong. On the stage thus set, it may be that we or someone more competent may stage scenes from the life of the island folk from time to time. There is a strange and interesting feast in the Spring, well worth describing, and at the New Year when the whole fishing fleet lies at anchor in the bay, the little town is all alive. A sitting in the Court of the District Magistrate would be worth describing too, and a meeting of the City Fathers, the Kaifong. We must write, for lack of better witnesses, yet how true it is that those who know do not say, and those who say do not know! But to our walk. There lies our little yacht that brought us from Hongkong, white and strange among the high-sterned junks with their brown mat sails. We have all the afternoon to wander, and half the night to lie in the Harbour before the tide turns and we must up anchor and away. Strolling through the Town We have landed on the beach near the Temple of Kwan Yin and find ourselves among the Hakka people who inhabit this end of the town. Their small, sturdy figures are to be seen clustered about the well where the women are drawing water, or bending over the boats in the boat-building yard that slopes to the water's edge. There is material for a whole study in the types of boat and the methods of building alone, but we cannot stop to watch for more than a few minutes while the skilful ship's carpenters fix the ribs and planking of a brand new sampan. A word of greeting to ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1977 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n CHEUNG CHOW LONG ISLAND 141 slowly in the widening bay, pushing a dark ripple before her. A sampan with three powdered and giggling girls drifts by, and as it passes, one sings in high quavering falsetto the first verse of a love song; then the second is sung by her companions. A young man sitting in his boat in the deep shadow of a junk's high stern answers the call, singing the third verse of the song, and the two boats glide together, and disappear towards the shore. "Another silly fish caught and ready to be landed!" But here is our little yacht with the cabin lit up and the wrinkled mahogany face of our boat boy gravely smiling a welcome. We tumble aboard and form our own animated group about the rice bowl while he withdraws to the bow, and sits there silent, still, waiting for the night wind and the tide. The Mooncake Festival The historian of Long Island has not yet appeared. He must be a Chinese, for no European can be sure of understanding the real meaning of the institutions and customs of a Chinese community. But until that historian appears, and perhaps to induce him to come forth and correct the presumptuous foreigner, here is an eye witness's account of a spring feast at Cheung Chow written from memory and the notes of a careful observer, Mr. A. C. Franklin.* It must be understood that the latter is not to blame for any inaccuracies in the following account. + On a day in May, looking from Hongkong towards the Island, through a good pair of glasses we see a new building towering above the houses and temples, and we decide to visit the island and investigate. The ferry starts from the immediate and unsavoury neighbourhood of a loading shoot for the town garbage. The ferries are crowded and frequent to-day, gaily flagged and decorated. Everyone on board is in holiday mood, laughing, eating, talking, and behaving rather like a good-tempered Bank Holiday crowd at home. There seem to be parties of visitors, teams of some kind, and there is an image in a chair on the lower deck. It is not being treated with any particular awe and reverence, indeed it seems more like a mascot than a holy thing. Once out of the harbour we encounter nothing of special interest until we turn into Cheung Chow Bay. Here is a cheerful sight. The whole fleet is in and the bay is full. The heavy brown mat Mr. Franklin followed the author as Registrar, University of Hong Kong, 1913-18. — Ed. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1977 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n 142 W. J. HINTON sails have been lowered and stowed, white awnings cover the decks, there is a gilded bamboo "whip" at the foremast of each junk and the bay is alive with small boats. Once past the police searchers, the crowd disperses into the town to buy food at the stalls which line the thoroughfares. Evidently this is fair day. All the shops are doing a roaring trade, and the streets are full of visitors from Hongkong, and even from Canton, and places a hundred miles away. Presently we notice that the crowd is drifting in one direction; going with it, we find ourselves off the main street. Passing the gates we enter a field covered with booths and resounding with the clash of cymbals and the shrill note of the pipe. Here is all the fun of the fair. A matshed has been erected, part theatre and part temple. At the far end a theatrical performance is now being given. The clang of cymbals marks the warlike gyrations of the actors, but now and then gives way to the shrill tones of the two-stringed violin in moments of pathos. And all the time the priests on either side of the open end of the theatre chant their services at two altars. A Chinese who is near me either cannot or will not tell me what gods are served at these altars. To me they seem to present an aspect of amicable rivalry. On either side of the entrance, but without, stand two large conical frameworks of bamboo, stuck all over with small white rice cakes, and looking each like an ear of Indian corn. These are about twenty feet high. There are small replicas on portable platforms. We leave the grounds and walk to the Pak Tai Temple where a procession is forming. It is one of several, for each village street provides a procession, and there is great emulation between the teams. The procession starts. At its head is a Dragon, at least it is a dragon for all practical ceremonial purposes though to the carnal eye it seems a large mask completely covering the head of a boy. He prances and sidles along, mopping and mowing most realistically, the formidable but apparently benevolent monster rolling his head and his eyes, and shaking his sinuous body; for which purpose a second lad under a red streamer of thin cloth goes through all the motions that can reasonably be expected of a Dragon's hind legs. The beast is followed by bearers, carrying a platform covered with a canopy, and on the platform two small girls, powdered and ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1977 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n NOTES AND QUERIES 177 26. Water was, of course, Tai Mo Shan's greatest natural resource. Before the construction of the Shing Mun catchwaters pre-war, and those for the Tai Lam Chung reservoir post-war, a tremendous flow of water ran down the mountain. It assisted in the gradual formation of land for houses and cultivation at its two main stream mouths in Tsuen Wan,* and was also used for industrial purposes. Water power drove the 24 incense mills located on the various streams of Tsuen Wan between 1900-1910 and before. (JHKBRAS 16 (1976):282-283). Stream water was also essential to the manufacture of bean curd and bean stick, another very old Tsuen Wan local industry, in which the quality of the product was directly related to the availability of a continually available pure water supply (see pp. 216-218 of this Journal). Public Works 27. In any hill area in which streams abound and become fast-flowing torrents in wet weather, there is a need for bridges across which travellers and villagers carrying heavy loads can proceed in safety. Tai Mo Shan has its share of such streams, and there are surviving bridges here and there in the hills and on its lower slopes. Among those known to me the largest is the Po Chai Bridge at Chung Hang, a few minutes' walk from my office in Tsuen Wan. Beside it is a battered slate-like tablet commemorating its repair in the 4609th year of the Yellow Emperor, a curious titling which owes its inspiration to the overthrow of the Ch'ing dynasty in the same year as its reconstruction (see Dingle: 89 for a similar dating that gave me the clue to this one and illustrates the wave of Chinese feeling that linked places as far apart in these two cases as Hankow and Tsuen Wan). The subscribers were the leading villagers and shopkeepers of Tsuen Wan and places linked to it by social and business ties. 28. Another bridge, further up the same valley at a place called Ngo Tei (#) or Goose Land—probably its geomantic name—has no tablet. However it is also an old bridge, and an elderly villager of Pak Shek Kiu, an abandoned hill village higher up, credits its repair fifty years ago by a city merchant from Hong Kong as the 'price' paid to the villages to allow burial of one of his relatives there. * The old name for Tsuen Wan was Chin Wan (**) or Shallow Bay which directly reflects the effect of the mountain on the bay. It was in use until the late 19th century, being replaced first by Tsuen Wan and then... ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1977 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n NOTES AND QUERIES 181 He must have come by boat as the record states that "he left his boat at Tuen Mun - the present-day Castle Peak Bay - and rambled through the woods of the New Territories and visited many mountains. He fell in love with the scenery, and found many excellent grave sites for he was an accomplished geomancer." After he finished his official tour of duty in Yeung Chun County, he returned to his native home at Kiangsi and brought down the exhumed remains of his great grandfather TANG Hon-fat (#) and his great grandmother and those of his grandfather TANG Kun () and his grandmother to this area for reburial, presently the New Territories of Hong Kong. He buried his great grandfather and great grandmother in a grave at a site called Yuk Nui Pai Tong (#), meaning "the newly married girl is presented to her in-laws", at a small hill near Wang Chau (#), Yuen Long. He also buried his grandfather TANG Kun and his grandmother in a grave the site of which is called Kam Chung Fook Fo (4ƒƒX), “the golden bell covers the flame”, on a small hill behind the present Pok Oi Hospital on the main road from Kam Tin to Yuen Long. Both sites were considered auspicious. We do not know whether TANG Fu-hip's father TANG Yuk (e) was brought here dead or alive. He and his two wives were buried in a grave on a small hill not far from the Tsuen Wan District Office. The name of the site is called Pun Yuet Chiu Tam (*AR), “a half moon is shining over the water pond”. Owing to the proximity to the urban area and its easy accessibility, the Tang clan led by their elders come here every year on the 19th day of the Tenth Moon (lunar calendar) to pay homage to this ancestor. The record does not tell us how TANG Fu-hip brought the bones of his ancestors from Kiangsi, whether by boat or by the overland route. When TANG Fu-hip died, he was buried in a grave he had chosen himself. The name of the site is called Sin Yan Tai Tso (^) “the grand seat of the fairy", and it is located not very far from where he buried his great grandfather and great grandmother. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1978 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8g84t8593 186 in the district.68 DAVID FAURE On its way to Kowloon, the Japanese army looted Ho Chung. Mr. Tse Ming recalled that the Japanese came in groups, and took away the villagers' food. This continued for about a week. Tseng Lan Shue and Pik Uk, the next stop on the route to Kowloon, probably suffered more than other villages in Sai Kung, for Japanese troops stayed there for more than twenty days. The troops disturbed the women, took most of the crop that had just been harvested, and burnt the doors and furniture in the village houses for firewood. It seems that only scattered units of the Japanese army went into the Hang Hau area. Mr. Leung Chiu Man of Hang Hau saw some fighting between British and Japanese troops but recalled that the Japanese did not greatly disturb the village.69 The bandits After the Japanese came the bandits. Mr. Chau T'in Shang's impression in Sai Kung Market was that the bandits came many times and took away all the residents' valuables. Mr. Cheng Ip of Pak Kong remembered that it was Tung Chi (winter solstice) when the bandits first came. They were armed with guns, and they forced the villagers to carry their grain to Kei Ling Ha where they departed by boat. Mrs. Ts'ui of Sai Kung Market, whose husband was a fish-monger, remembered that many bandits came, and soon she was required to deliver a fixed quantity of fish every month to them. She fled to Yim Tin Tsai for two weeks, and then went up to P'ing Shan on the Chinese side of the border for three months, before she dared return to farm on her own land at Pak Kong. Mr. Hoh King of Nam Shan had just returned from Kowloon, and learnt that his name was on a list drawn up by the bandits of people they wanted to hold for ransom. He left Sai Kung with the proprietor of Kwong Tak Lung, whom he knew well, for the villages near Sham Chun, and stayed there for a month before he returned to Nam Shan. Even then, he did not stay in the village, but lived for a while up on the hillside.70 Bandits were reported throughout Sai Kung District, from Clear Water Bay, Junk Bay, to Long Harbour, in both the poorer villages and the richer ones and the market towns. According ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1978 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8g84t8593 NOTES AND QUERIES 193 But in recent months the mud-skis have been used by illegal immigrants, first to help them float across the bay and then to negotiate the mud flats and swamps of the Mai Po marshes. Yesterday Sgt-Major Wilson demonstrated how they were used. "They can move faster over the mud than a man can run over firm ground," said Sergeant Major Chris Wilson yesterday. "If it's thick mud the illegals stand on the skis and push with their feet and they can shoot across mud and water at a tremendous speed," he said. "If they cross thin mud or water they lay down and put out one leg and make a swimming motion and they can travel very fast.” The Army Air Corps has adapted one of its Scout helicopters to play a very special role in rescuing refugees from the deep mud and treacherous swamps in the marshes. The small helicopters are now equipped with nets and the crews hover over the swamps and drop out the nets to pluck illegal immigrants trapped in the mud to safety.” Reprinted, in part only, from the South China Morning Post, 18 June, 1979 This item was brought to my notice by our printer and Honorary Life Member Mr. Y. F. Lam (Hon. Ed.) THE SAINTLY GUO (Sheng Gong) Professor G. E. Guldin doubtless will be delighted to learn that the cult of Sheng Gong is alive and well and thriving in SE Asia. In his interesting article on Little Fujian in the 1977 Journal (JHKBRAS17(1977); 112-129) he surmised that Hong Kong may have the only Sheng Gong temple left functioning in the world. He will be surprised to hear that although there is only the one temple dedicated to Sheng Gong in Hong Kong, there were at least twelve in Singapore, six in Malaysia (1970) and twenty-seven in Taiwan (1969), all dedicated to this deity. This, of course, does not include the hundreds of images of the Saintly Guo seen in secondary positions in temples throughout SE Asia and Taiwan. More than half of the temples dedicated to Sheng Gong in Taiwan (16 out of 27) are within a thirty-mile radius which includes Tainan, and Kaohsiung South-West Taiwan. Only four are in towns and the remainder ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1979 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938 THE MARYKNOLL MISSION, HONG KONG 1941-46 NOVEMBER 33 Pat Wong, an old Maryknoll friend from our first days in Hong Kong, and now visiting the Colony from his new home in Honolulu, took the new men to their first Chinese banquet with no casualties reported. The Kongmoon contingent among the new men, with Father O'Melia as guide and teacher, take off for the Tan Chuk Seminary in the Wuchow Mission as the new site for the Language School; a safety precaution in view of the worsening conditions between the Japanese and the British-American bloc. Father Siebert, assigned to Kaying, will leave for there later on. The Stanley staff went to the dock to greet the S.S. Van Buren and the other new missioners but they were not on board - a mystery! Brother William arrived from Shanghai where he has been staying with Father Whitlow for some time. He is unable to return to Korea at present. Father Don Hessler arrived from Kweilin by plane for a rest after his recent bout with typhoid. Father Barney Meyer goes to the Paris Foreign Mission compound, "Nazareth," for a retreat preparatory to his coming jubilee. Father Feeney and Father Bauer arrive, the latter for treatment at St. Paul's for a bad case of dysentery. The end of the month brought Passionist Bishop Cuthbert O'Gara by plane from Kweilin. PART II: WAR AND OCCUPATION, DECEMBER 1941 -- AUGUST 1945 With the proximity of the Japanese across the border, the atmosphere in the Colony was rather tense. When Canton fell to the Japanese, there was a mass flight of refugees to Hong Kong. It was then estimated that some one hundred thousand came in 1939, bringing the population of the Colony at the outbreak of hostilities to approximately one million six hundred thousand, and it was thought that at the height of the influx, some half a million were sleeping on the streets. Then, on the fateful date of December 8th, the quiet of the Maryknoll House was rudely broken by the events of what was, no... Page 60 Page 61 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1979 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938 40 REVS. J. SMITH AND WM. DOWNS enough, but their range was inadequate and the planes flew just above their fire and dropped bombs upon targets with impunity. It was reported, however, that one plane was shot down with an anti-aircraft gun. Of course, there was not a single British fighter in the air to oppose the Japanese. The two or three antiquated crates that were seen occasionally flying around before the war were perhaps only trainers or observation planes. On the first and second nights of hostilities the drone of planes was heard around midnight, and a few planes were evidently taking off and landing at Kai Tak. Our first reaction to this was that they might be British planes arriving from Singapore, to aid in the defense of Hong Kong, but these sporadic flights soon stopped, and we learnt later that there were the ordinary CNAC or commercial planes which were being flown away to safer havens, and at the same time taking a few important people out of the Colony. The Japanese had the air entirely to themselves, and to my observation there were never more than ten to twelve planes in action at the same time. In comparison with former days, there was comparatively little shipping in the harbor at the outbreak of hostilities. The few ocean freighters were either scuttled or set on fire in Kowloon Bay or in Lyemoon channel, by their captains. It may be that a couple were bombed, I do not know. There was a number of small river craft anchored near Kowloon, and of course the usual ferries, harbor tugs and a considerable fleet of Chinese junks huddled together in the typhoon shelters. At about the second or the third day of the war, every small ship and tug, including river passenger boats and ferries, got into motion and began moving slowly up and down the harbor fairway. Apparently this was to avoid being hit by bombs or shells. During this time I watched a small tug, perhaps a navy tug, calmly set out from Kowloon to cross to Hong Kong. As it pulled away from its anchorage a train of shells began falling in its wake. However, it kept on majestically and quite unconcernedly on its way, and though the shells fell closer and closer to its stern, it reached the navy yard in safety, and then as calmly turned out into the harbor again. At the same time, a small British destroyer, the Thracian backed slowly out of its berth in the Navy Yard, turned around and headed westward out of the harbor. No shells hit it ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1979 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938 THE MARYKNOLL MISSION, HONG KONG 1941-46 67 Looking forward, as only Father Meyer can do, he buys a small pig and puts it down in brine, and now and then in addition to our cans of bully beef, we have a slice of salt pork. Some of us are anxious to get to Hong Kong for various reasons. Bishop O'Gara to see the dentist and Father Troesch, with his procuratorial instinct, to see about food supplies. Permission therefore being duly secured, the Bishop, accompanied by Fathers Benson and Norris, C. P., start out for Hong Kong on foot, as there isn't a car on the road, save occasionally Japanese army trucks or official cars. Father Troesch also succeeds in getting passes for two, and he and Father Meyer trek in to see what is to be seen and what is to be done. We are also rationing our Mass candles and wine. After saying Mass on the sixth at the Carmelite Convent, the Bishop comes up again to see us. With him is a Korean Seminarian from Rosary Hill. As a few of our members are ill, this seminarian is instrumental in securing the services of a Japanese doctor. He seemed rather kindly disposed, but could not do much under the circumstances, though he promised to have the sick men transported to Queen Mary Hospital. Accordingly, in the afternoon, a truck drew up in our driveway and Father Bauer, Brothers Michael and Thaddeus are put aboard. Bishop Valtorta and Father Toomey get permission to accompany them. Fathers Troesch and Meyer return with the news that Bishop O'Gara and Fathers Benson and Norris have been interned in Hong Kong! We may be next, but nevertheless today we again started our language classes. And now for a little retrospect as to what happened in Hong Kong after the 16th, when the writer returned to Stanley. We left the Japanese in complete possession of Kowloon and as their peace mission failed, they returned to prosecute the siege of Hong Kong. The shelling and bombing kept up, and within a few days, they had effected a landing on the Island at North Point, from which place they advanced towards the city and inland to Stanley. Later, other landings were undoubtedly made as they were soon in control of Aberdeen and Repulse Bay. The guns on Stonecutters Island had been silenced as were those on Mt. Davis. Bitter street fighting took place as the enemy advanced to Causeway Bay and through Wanchai. The central part of the city suffered little actual damage, although an occasional bomb or shell fell there. Later on, the worst damage inflicted on property was by the looters, who virtually stripped buildings of all their woodwork for fuel. In many instances. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1979 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938 138 REVS. J. SMITH AND WM. DOWNS were broken and the makeshift seats were few, so that many had to stand, but it was the same Mass, and even better appreciated. Every Sunday we carried down the loose boards of our beds to lay across concrete blocks to form seats. In an old quarry a concrete slab was set up as an altar for Benediction when the weather was fine. There were also stone seats for meetings, retreats, etc. In bad weather, Club meetings were held in the rooms of Catholic families fortunate enough to have rooms to themselves. The authorities had assigned four persons to small rooms, six to the larger living rooms; there was little space left between the beds. But for our meetings, the beds would be taken up and as many as twenty or thirty could be accommodated not too uncomfortably. Father Hessler was the very active Mary of our team, I was the Martha. He was most successful with the Clubs, and had twenty or more meetings weekly. I had the men's Catholic Action Group and some Study Clubs, and tried to see to it that Father Hessler took his meals and got enough nourishment to keep him out of the malnutrition clinic, which towards the end could give little but good wishes. About the only remedy they had finally, was bran, which had been brought to Hong Kong to feed the racehorses. But several ounces a day would help beri-beri. Early in the Camp, Bishop Valtorta had been able to send in some Vatican funds monthly for charitable purposes, and I was able to buy eggs in the Camp canteen for the sick, until these became too scarce and eventually stopped coming in altogether. Then an order was issued that no one could receive more than 25 yen monthly from all sources. We were already receiving that from the American Red Cross as personal allowance, but officialdom was unwilling to distinguish between personal and charitable funds. So, we had to try to raise them within the Camp itself. During the Camp each internee received, in all, eight Red Cross comfort parcels, the kind that went to prisoners of war in Europe every two weeks. The Maryknoll Fathers who left Camp had arranged in town for weekly parcels to be sent to us. The powdered milk and other foods in these parcels commanded a price in the Camp Black Market out of all proportion to their value, since there were some who had secured funds by disposing of Page 165 Page 166 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1980 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207 202 To and sites were also rendered ineffective by the emperor's golden pen. My knowledge, the elders knew of four sites. One of them was on Tiu Chung Chau at Kau Sai in Saikung. The fungshui of this site was ‘a golden bell hanging on a silk thread'. Every year at the Double-ninth festival, nine buffaloes came to worship at the grave; there was also the sound of a bell being struck. A second site was at Yuen Chau Chai at Kei Leng Ha Village. The fungshui name was 'the general comes down from his horse to drink three cups of wine'. In the middle of the sea, there is Wu Chau (with the adjacent island of Sam Pui Tsau) that resembles a pig, three cups of wine and two cups of tea. Another site was at To Tau Tsui at Wu Kai Sha, which is opposite Nga Chau (usually nowadays called A Chau) in the Tai Po Hoi. The fungshui name was crows going into the ocean. Legend has it that in the old days a mud embankment connected Wu Kai Sha to Nga Chau which sank into the sea after the emperor put down the dragon. The embankment has not been seen again. One more site was on Ap Chau opposite Kat O. The fungshui name was 'precious duck going through the lotus'. The legend is that Ap Chau used to be able to swim between Sam Mun Kan and Mirs Bay. Later, it was blocked by a duck pole, that is, the place currently known as Hak Ngam Kok. After that, when paddy ripened in the Yim Tin Village area near Sha Tau Kok, there was no rice grain on the stalk, because it was all eaten by the duck. After the emperor put down the dragon with his golden pen, the head of the duck... and then there was grain again. I know about the fungshui of only these four grave sites. he cut off Passage 2 Recorded by Ho Kei Fook "An extraordinary person saw that Huang Hsiao-yang [rebel in the Canton area in the early fifteenth century] had features fitting to make him emperor and gave him a bamboo shoot to plant at home. When the 'bamboo grew to the height of his brows', he was supposed to be able to make an arrow out of it which he could use to kill the emperor with and thereby take over the throne. Huang planted the bamboo shoot as he had been instructed and a bamboo stem grew ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1980 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207 NOTES AND QUERIES A HAKKA WEDDING IN HONG KONG, MAY 1979 During our visits to the market in Sai Kung, we had made the acquaintance of a lady in charge of a haberdashery shop, a Mrs. Ho and her daughter Ling. Knowing of our interest in Chinese customs and culture, they invited Josephine, myself and my husband to attend the wedding of her nephew which was to take place in their village in the Sai Kung peninsula the following Saturday. We met that morning in the market to pick up Mrs. Ho and Ling and then drove out to Tong Ha Yeung, a small village past Pak Tam Au, at 10 a.m. We arrived about 10:30 to find a feast already in progress. A row of five Hakka houses facing the main road had the area in front, which was in previous years used for drying rice, now occupied with square wooden tables with benches on four sides. Above the tables was a canvas awning supported on bamboo poles to keep off the sun, and as it turned out, the rain too. The relatives of the bride and groom, and the villagers from the surrounding 7 villages had already assembled and were in the middle of a sizeable meal of beef, pork, tripe, rice and soft drinks, eaten to the accompaniment of "Grease" played loudly on a cassette player. The food was being cooked in two huge woks which had been built into a clay brick oven with a roaring wood fire going underneath. Several men were tending the fire and cooking the food. The woks, which had been built at the entrance of the village under the awning, had been prepared yesterday, and would be dismantled tonight after the celebrations were over. Richard and I had taken great care in the choice of our clothes, knowing that certain colours are considered unlucky, such as white, the colour of mourning, and blue. ... However, no one else there, at least of the younger generation, had taken notice of this custom as most were dressed in blue jeans, white shirts or tee-shirts, etc. Of the middle-aged women like Mrs. Ho, they were wearing their best clothes, Mrs. Ho in a brown silk jacquard sam fu which had a centre front opening fastening with frogs, and a set of jade earrings, ring and bracelets. The older women were in the customary black cotton sam fu, often with an apron, and a black cotton bau tow. ¦ ! ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1980 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207 NOTES AND QUERIES 141 (1810), General Chin Mun-fu ***** suggested that the Fat Tong Mun Fort be abandoned and be rebuilt near the Kowloon guard-station ✯ ✯ A Viceroy Pak Ling T✯ ordered the Magistrate of the San On County 觚 ***◊ to carry out the suggestion. Chapter 175 of Kwangtung Tung Chi, Tao Kuang edition KKAR £&4-4*+ states, "The Kowloon Fort Aate lies 290 # E west of the Tai Pang Battalion 4. It was guarded by one pa-tsung and one ngai-wai with 48 guards." 5 After the Opium War, the Chinese were defeated, and Hong Kong was ceded to the British. In the 23rd year of the Tao Kuang Reign (1843) Ke Ying was Viceroy of the Kwangtung and Kwangsi Provinces **** and Wong Yan-tung & was Governor of the Liang Kwang-tung ✯✯✯. They proposed building the Kowloon Walled City. The work was completed in the 27th year of the Tao Kuang Reign (1847). * See Chapter 13 of the Kwangtung Tao Shuet, Tung Chih edition ŁATÁRUK+ which records. "The Kowloon Walled City was under the command of a fu-cheung ## or brigadier of the Naval Forces of the Tai Pang Battalion. Under him was an extra ngar-wai who guarded the Walled City with 150 men. There were 75 men under one tsin-tsune for lieutenant guarding the Kowloon Fort; and one ngai-wai-tsin-tsung ††or sub-lieutenant leading 15 men guarding the Kowloon Coastal Guard Station ALDA. * See Chapter 73 of the Kwangchow Fu Chi, Kuang Hsü edition ANA££*TE and Kwong Tung Hoi Tao Shuet, Kuang Hsü edition 張之洞廣東海圆說. * See my article 'The Old Cannons found in Hong Kong' in Volume 8, Part 2 of Kwangtung Man Hin REÆ : RKARXUŁ^ËZI * The Old Yamen is now occupied by the CNEC Grace Light School. TUEN MUN FROM CHINESE HISTORICAL RECORDS 2 Tuen Mun1 lies in the western part of the New Territories. The highest mountain in this area is the Tuen Mun Shan ₺F2 which reaches a height of 582.9 metres. To the east of the mountain is the Tuen Mun Bay, also called the Castle Peak Bay lying to its east, and the Lantau with Kau King Shan A Island lying to its south. Tuen Mun Bay is surrounded by mountains on three sides, thus forming a good typhoon shelter from the strong easterlies. It is also the waterway for entering the Chu Kiang i or Pearl River estuary of the Kwangtung Province. The Bay had been an important harbour for the Persians, the Arabs and the people from India, Indo-china and the East Indies. Their trading fleets had to anchor and gather at Tuen Mun before entering the Chu Kiang. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1980 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207 142 NOTES AND QUERIES During the early Tang Dynasty, the importance of Tuen Mun increased. Thus a garrison of two thousand men was posted1, and Tuen Mun became known as the Tuen Mun Military Zone19 5. The garrison was led by a commander known as Sau-Chuk-Si 守捉使 belonging to the Annam Military Zone 安南都護府. Its headquarters were at Nam Tau, later the district city of San On. The area of present day Hong Kong, including the islands, the Kowloon Peninsula and the New Territories, was under the protection of this garrison. In the Sung Dynasty, the Tuen Mun Military Zone was turned into the Tuen Mun Ngam19. However, the number of soldiers and the rank of the officer in charge are not certain. During the early Ming Dynasty, the Tuen Mun Ngam was turned into the Nam Tau Walled City, and the garrison was commanded by a Cham-Cheung or Brigadier. Later, in the 17th year of the Hung Wu Reign (1384), Fa Mau✯✯, Commander of the Nam Tau Walled City, asked the Imperial Court to strengthen the garrison of the coastal area. Tuen Mun lay between the areas protected by the Tung Kwun Battalion and the Tai Pang Battalion. Thus, a watch-post was built, and a guard-station under a Pa-Tsung(4) was established. In the 9th year of the Chia Ching reign (1514), the Portuguese entered the Tuen Mun Bay. They took over the adjacent lands and built forts. They even established a monument. However, in the 16th year of Chia Ching, Wong Wang, Commander-in-chief of the Kwangtung naval forces, defeated the Portuguese at Sai Tso Wan8. After that, no Portuguese was found in the Tuen Mun area.9 At that time, there were villages like Lung Kwu Tsuen, Lang Shui Tsuen✯k††, Tuen Mun Tsuen19#, So Kwun Wat Tsuen 掃桿笏村, and Siu Lam Chung Tsuen 小欖涌村.10 During the early Ch'ing Dynasty, the Coastal Evacuation✯✯ caused the abandonment of the area close to the sea. Tuen Mun thus lay barren until, in the 7th year of the K'ang Hsi reign (1668), people were permitted to return to the coastal strip. The Tuen Mun Watch-post was re-established with a garrison of fifty men under a Tsin-Tsung. In the 21st year of K'ang Hsi (1682), the Tuen Mun Watch-post was turned into the Tuen Mun Walled City19 with a garrison of thirty men under a Tsin-tsung11. During ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1980 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207 144 NOTES AND QUERIES Tai Lam Chung Sub-district:- Tai Lam Chung, So Kun Fat, Tai Lam, Tsing Fai Tong, Un Tan and Tin Po Tsai 田箭仔、 Lung Ku Tan Sub-district:- Nim Wan, Tai Shui Hang 大水坑, Pak Long 北朗, Ha Nam Long 下南朗, Sheung Nam Long 上南朗 and Tuk Mi Chung 篤尾涌. 18 At present, Tuen Mun consists of thirty-two villages; namely: Chi Tin Tsuen, Ching Chuen Wai † (mainly surnamed To 陶), Ching Shan Keuk 青山脚, Ching Shan Tsuen 青山村, Chung Uk Tsuen (mainly surnamed Chung), Fu Ti Tsuen 虎地村, Fu Hang Tsuen 福亨村, Ho Tin Tsuen 河田村, Ki Lun Wai 麒麟圍 (mainly surnamed Chan 陳), Kwong Shan Tsuen 礦山村, Lam Tei 藍地 (mainly surnamed To 陶 and Kwan 關), Lam Tei San Tsuen (mainly surnamed To), Leung Tin Tsuen 良田村 (mainly surnamed Ho 何), Lung Ku Taan 龍鼓灘 (mainly surnamed Lau), Nai Wai (mainly surnamed To 陶), Nim Wan 稔灣, Po Tong Ha 寶塘下 (mainly surnamed Tsui 徐), Sam Shing Hui 三聖墟, San Hing Tsuen 新慶村 (mainly surnamed Siu 蕭), San Hui 新墟, San Wai Chei 新圍仔, Shun Fung Wai »§ £, ♬ (mainly surnamed Cheung 張 and Leung 梁), Siu Hang Tsuen 小坑村 (mainly surnamed Tse 謝), So Kwun Wat 掃管笏 (mainly surnamed Lee 李), Tai Lam Chung (mainly surnamed Wu 吳 and Wong 黃), Tin Fu Chai (mainly surnamed To and Choi), To Yuen Wai (mainly surnamed Lee 李), Tseng Tau Tsuen 井頭村, Tuen Chi Wai 屯子圍 (mainly surnamed To 陶), Wo Ping San Tsuen 和平新村, Yeung Siu Hang 楊小坑 and Luen On San Tsuen 聯安新村. Tuen Mun has now been developed into a large new satellite town. A major road, the Tuen Mun Highway, has been built, joining it with Tsuen Wan, and a light rail system within the town area will be developed in the near future. NOTES 1 The name 'Tuen Mun' appeared first in Chapter 43 of the New History of T'ang. 2 Tuen Mun Shan was also known as 'Pui To Shan'. Nowadays, it is also called 'Castle Peak'. The Bay was also known as Tuen Mun O. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1981 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m STEPHEN MORRIS living space of the man he has attacked; and it is the task of the elders, the guardians of the adat, to exact material compensation for the attack and expiation in the form of symbolic gifts, usually of gold and iron, graded according to the rank of the injured party. So also spirits, with the help of human intermediaries who have special knowledge can be made to see the offence they have committed in attacking a human and made to understand that they must co-operate in putting matters right, thus restoring proper order. Here I have to confess a difficulty that faces me; my knowledge of illnesses and the western medical classification of them is exceedingly poor. The Melanau themselves used a limited number of terms to describe the symptoms of being ill. My notes are full of words which I translated as wounds, sores, pains in the belly sharp or small, pains in the head, in the chest, in the eyes, and so on. People were feverish, hot, cold, confused, ‘felt bad', had a ‘dark face', a leg or an abdomen was swollen, and so on. Children cried incessantly and dribbled, people sweated beyond reason. To bring some order into the subject I once set a student, who was a state registered nurse, to try and classify the long list of symptoms I had collected in a way that perhaps made sense to her and that might correlate with illnesses as we understand them. She ended in very confused condition and I put her on to another project. In 1950 one of the Medical Officers in Sarawak came to the village I was then working in, and with my help took a hundred blood samples for analysis. At my request he made a quick medical diagnosis of twenty-five of the people he saw. For what it is worth his results showed 6 people to have had syphilis or gonorrhea, 6 more, mostly women, were suffering from anemia; 6 were suffering severely from tuberculosis; 3 showed active signs of malaria; 2 had glaucoma; 1 had epilepsy; 1 had rheumatoid arthritis; and 1 showed signs of beri-beri. In other words, the doctor's classification and that of the Melanau were rather different; and though both the doctor and the villagers were agreed that in most of the cases all was far from well, their ways of arriving at that conclusion and their views on what to do about it were rather different. Both looked at a syndrome of symptoms and diagnosed a cause for the imbalance in the bodily economy; and on the basis of a theory about that economy both prescribed a course of action to set things right. For certain kinds of illness the doctor was, on the whole, more successful than the Melanau. Both the Melanau and westerners have techniques for avoiding Page 30 Page 31 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1981 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m 18 STEPHEN MORRIS omens warning him against some action, he has only himself to blame if he becomes ill or meets an accident. + On most occasions it is the human being who is the offender; but it does sometimes happen that a spirit gratuitously attacks a man, or it may even be that a spirit takes a liking to some human, and in order to make him aware of the fact will cause him to fall ill; so that he is obliged to call in a shaman, who through his own friendly spirits can get in touch with the one who is causing the trouble and make the situation known to the patient. Sometimes the spirit will tell the sick man why he is ill and what he has to do in order to be cured. Sometimes the disrespect; the breach of proper boundaries between the different classes of being is the work of an animal. Crocodiles, for example, have the power to entice the soul of a human and keep it, knowing that unless something is done the body will follow, looking for the soul, and provide a meal for the crocodile. The symptoms of this kind of theft, paleness, lethargy, fatigue, are usually indistinguishable from those of an attack by a spirit or any other cause for the soul's departure from the body. Only a shaman, with the help of his spirit friends and guides, can diagnose with any certainty what has happened. Finally there are some illnesses caused by witchcraft or sorcery. Witchcraft, in the sense of malice projected symbolically without the use of material means, by a living member of the victim's society is rare among the Melanau; and it occurs only when a shaman's moral character is not sufficiently strong to control the potentially nasty habits of his spirit friends. They persuade him to send his head out at night to suck the blood of victims, and so feed the spirits. A weak or a bad shaman is not strong enough to prevent that kind of thing. The result is what I suppose we should call anaemia; and it is eventually followed by death, if the shaman is not stopped in time - usually in former days by killing him. Illness can also be caused by sorcery (though not often I think) by carving images of particular spirits, bringing the carvings to life, and then ordering the spirits to disregard the rules of the ader and hunt down the sorcerer's enemy. To summarise what I have been saying: the principal causes of illness in a Melanau diagnosis on the basis of symptoms are (i) Improper relation of hot and cold elements in the body. (ii) An act of disrespect that flouts the proper order of things, usually an action by the sufferer but sometimes by another being - a spirit, an animal, or even another human. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1981 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m 160 WEI PER-TI few days later from his wounds. Upon being told of the news, Juan Yuan "suspended the Company's trade and required the surrender of the man whom he termed the 'Foreign Murderers'"* + 63 To Juan Yuan, the Select Committee's reaction to his demand was in contravention to Chinese regulations. He was told by the Committee to communicate directly with Captain Richardson of the Topaze instead of going through the hong merchants and the Select Committee. Had Juan Yuan done as he was asked, he would have implicitly consented to change the Canton system. This he refused to do. He continued to hold to the principle that the supercargo of the British factory be responsible for the conduct of all British nationals in China. While the hong merchants, British traders at Canton, and Captain Richardson debated various possible courses to take, Juan Yuan suspended all British trade and held steadfast to his principles. On February 3, 1822, a Chinese official was permitted to board the Topaze and was understood to have said that he would make a report to the Governor-General. On 8 February, using as the excuse that as he had not heard from Chinese officials everything must be satisfactory, Captain Richardson took the Topaze to sea. It was at this point the crisis really became serious. The British factory left Canton within three days. The language used by both sides in their communications was inflexible and threatening. The Committee insisted upon disclaiming responsibilities for the British navy. Another two weeks passed without any sign of solution. The Committee then explained to Juan that Captain Richardson had returned to Britain to "report to his sovereign" and that "copies of all the papers would be sent to the Court of Directors [of the Company]". Juan Yuan, noting that since the Topaze had already left Chinese waters, so that it was impossible for the supercargo to surrender the criminals even if he had been willing, and as the entire account was being sent back to both the sovereign and the Company, permitted the resumption of British trade at Canton. This compromise in order to resolve a difficult case reflected Juan Yuan's willingness to make the best of a bad situation. Juan Yuan did not negotiate with the British except through the intermediary of the hong merchants, and, it was the Company that was to be held responsible for finding the criminals to be remitted to Chinese justice, although no such promise had actually been made.55 And, most important of all, the British navy was removed from the China seas. On the surface at least, the principles of the Canton system were preserved. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1981 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m JUAN YUAN'S MANAGEMENT OF SINO-BRITISH RELATIONS IN CANTON, 1817-1826 11 Ti-tzu chi, 5:11. 165 12 Four men were known by the name (or title) of Howqua. They were Wu Tung-yüan (Puiqua or Howqua II), his father Wu Kuo-yung (Howqua I) before him, his two sons, Wu Shou-ch'ang (Howqua III) and Wu Chung-yao (Howqua IV). 13 Wai-chi-tang, (hereafter cited as WCT), n.p. Copy of memorial from Juan Yüan, Governor-General of Kwangtung and Kwangsi, dated TK 1/11/19 (1821/2/21). 14 +6 16 Morse, Chronicles, III, 334. Liang-kuang yen-chik, chuan on Chia-ch'ing. Ibid. 17 Morse, Chronicles, IV, 57. 18 Copy of memorials from Juan Yüan, Governor-General of Kwangtung and Kwangsi, in Shih-liao Hsun-k'an 4:126a-b. 19 W. C. Hunter, The "Fan Kwae" at Canton Before Treaty Days, 1825-1844, (Shanghai, 1911), p. 40. 20 H. F. McNair, Modern Chinese History: Selected Readings, (Shanghai, 1913), 1:42. 21 Chinese Repository, V:2:422 (January, 1834). 22 Morse, Chronicles, III, 377. 23 Extract of letter from the Select Committee to the Court of Directors, East India Company, as reprinted in Parliamentary Papers, 21:104. 24 Morse, Chronicles, III, 318. 26 Ibid., 320. 26 Wai-chiao shih-liao, Chia-ch'ing 6:57. 27 28 Letter from the Select Committee, Parliamentary Papers 21:537. Wai-chiao shih-liao, Chia-ch'ing 6:57b. 20 Letter from the Select Committee, Parliamentary Papers, 21:537. 30 Morse, Chronicles, III, 381. In the listing of Company ships at Canton 1805-20, however, the security merchant for the London is given as Kinqua, Ibid. 31 Letter from the Select Committee, Parliamentary Papers 21:537. 32 Ibid. After the crisis was over, it was revealed that Pigott had been hiding on a British warship, the HMS Liverpool, then moored at Lintin. He could not return to the London when it left China because of bad weather, but managed to return to England at a later date, Morse, Chronicles, III, 382. 33 Letter from the Select Committee, Parliamentary Papers 21:539; Morse, Chronicles, III, 380. 34 Morse, Chronicles, p. 380. 35 Eliot to Palmerston, as cited in Chinese Repository IX:406 (August, 1842). **WCT-TK1/11, Chinese Repository, V:5:223. 37 *7 WCT-TK 1/11. 38 Morse, Chronicles, IV, 23. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1981 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m NOTES AND QUERIES 205 farmers could ever raise enough cash for those expenses requiring substantial cash payments, e.g. to build or repair extensively a house or buy a new plough. I was told that careful management could make a plough last almost indefinitely: a completely new plough was needed only if the old one shattered into fragments. The wooden parts could be replaced by the farmer cutting and preparing wood himself, the coulter had to be regularly replaced by a coulter bought new but could be fitted on by the farmer. The blacksmith in Tai Po would accept the old coulter in part payment for the new one; he would then melt it down to recast it. Small expenses (e.g. extra rice, sugar, oil, other comestibles) could be met by the sale of firewood etc. Sugar was very cheap: sale of 1 picul of firewood would enable enough sugar and oil to be bought to last a thrifty family several weeks. As for houses, these were repaired as soon as the slightest signs of wear, cracks, leakage or ants appeared, and would thus survive almost for ever, barring typhoon or fire damage. If a home did get so damaged a poor family could only repair it by mortgaging its fields at a high price (say, at the rate of 1 or 5 picul per harvest per tau). If good years supervened in which there were good harvests and opportunities for wage labour such a family could recover and pay off the mortgage, but if bad years came the mortgage might be foreclosed and “that family would starve and might well die". Substantial wealth in ready cash "usually came from outside" from remittances from seamen etc. as in Wai H.L.'s father's and uncle's case, or the Ng family in West Lane etc. One member of Chan family (Name given me by Wai H.L. but I forgot it) in Tai Wai “about 30 or 40 years older than Wai Siu-ling” (i.e. born about 1855-1865) became very rich as a seaman at the turn of the century or thereabouts or a little earlier. He became the "leader” of an American ship. Villager wanting to go to sea would have to receive his recommendation, and would have to pay to get it. He also smuggled opium to Chinese communities in the U.S.A., making great profits which he used to buy up houses and fields in Tai Wai. He shamed the other villagers "by wearing only silk when they could afford only hemp, and eating pork and chicken when they could afford only rice and salt fish” He also married the most beautiful girl in Sha Tin, However, he was caught when his last smuggling adventure "just before he retired" (1915?) went wrong and was fined very heavily. He could not pay and had to sell all his belongings at an auction. He was considered a "bad man" - not because of his smuggling but because he did not help the village. "Other men who became rich like this would repair the r'ong (ancestral hall) or do other communal acts, but he not only refused but would not even help his ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1981 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m BOOK REVIEWS Hong Kong, Then and Now (South China Morning Post, Hong Kong, 1981) Several years ago the SCMP published on Sundays the 'Then & Now' series. Each article shows an old view of Hong Kong and a recent shot taken from the same viewpoint, if ascertainable. This juxtaposition dramatically shows the gross physical changes which had taken place at certain well-known localities. However, even with supplementary historical notes, which were not noted for their accuracy, this method was rather crude. In my opinion, it did not adequately reveal the detailed changes – vertical and horizontal – which constitute the change in the impact of the street scene upon the passer-by, as for example, along Queen's Road Central. Of course, change in urban Hong Kong is so rapid and the transitory results so compressed in scale that it is extremely difficult by the photographic medium to illustrate these changes in the street scene. There is another dimension, too, to this historical conundrum: the modern face of Hong Kong is perpetually being projected upwards from the sea; in other words, by reclamation. In fact, this is a process of change which began in the 1840's with the building and draining of Causeway Bay, right up to the present time when the New Territories, New Towns are coming into being. (Even with the aid of aerial photographs, it is extremely difficult to locate former well-known spots which have either been submerged by the flow of concrete or have disappeared completely. Try, for instance, finding the old floating fish stalls at Sam Shing, Tuen Mun.) And, of course, it would be extremely instructive if the historical geographer could trace the physical development of different districts of Hong Kong by means of photographs of different periods. But Then & Now is not this, although, quite possibly the original compiler of this book, Dee Gibney (not acknowledged as the author of the historical introduction to these pictures) might have hoped it would turn out so. Unfortunately, this project was incomplete when she left and, with consequent delay, and with continuing change, even the original 'Now' photographs were outdated. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1982 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p 82 ELIZABETH SINN was found.67 Besides firing, the police also charged at the crowd. The paper treats us to the vivid description of a particular “valiant” Sikh policeman. He had been knocked off his pony, but he got back on the saddle, and, “drawing his sword, he charged. He does not seem to have used the weapon on the mob,” the paper reported, but, “round and round he went in an increasing circle, knocking the mob over like nine pins. He must have bowled over a very great number of them, and with the pony trampling over the prostrate men, many must have been a good deal hurt.” Man and beast came in for praise. “The pony behaved splendidly and seemed imbued with the same spirit as its rider, tearing might and main in among the thick of the crowd, over numerous obstacles.”68 But when we remember that the “obstacles” were human beings, the ferocity of the police reaction to the morning’s stone-throwing strikes home. It is perhaps as justifiable to say that police action had eventually quelled the disturbance as it is to say that police action had provoked the crowd and exacerbated the situation in the first place. In other words, the over-reaction of the police was likely to have magnified some ugly stone-throwing into a large-scale disturbance. If our interpretation of these events is that the riot had broken out spontaneously, what can we make of the “bad characters” and triad members who were reported to be present in Hong Kong in large numbers? Marsh, for one, believed that bad characters had instigated the riots, and he suspected that they were somehow connected with the Canton authorities. There is indeed evidence that there were large numbers of triad members in Hong Kong, but they had begun to gather there since 1883, and no disturbance had been instigated by them then. Then, their main purpose had been to stage a major uprising in Waichow, and it seems that in 1884, as again later in 1885, their main concern remained Waichow.70 What records we have of them do not indicate any connection with the Canton authorities. I think it is reasonable to contend that the particular circumstances emerging from the strike created the conditions for riot, not the presence of bad elements. None of the arrested ================================================================================ 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 134 H. J. LETHBRIDGE by Mrs. Miao. Miao was not in employment, having just finished his studies in America, though he did state he had been offered a legal post in China and was to take it up when he returned from his lengthy honeymoon. Little is known about his father's finances. Presumably he was an official, but had he lost his post when the Nationalists seized power in 1927, or was he dead by then? It was not only a murder for profit, but a premeditated one, planned before he left America. Miao wanted not only his wife's inheritance but her jewellery and other possessions. It has been argued that the real motive for the crime was Mrs. Miao's infertility. She had been told at Albany, so it is alleged, that she would be unable to bear children, and the knowledge depressed her husband. An article in The Sunday Express of March 24, 1929, quotes Miao as saying his wife died willingly to allow him to remarry and have heirs. This story sounds implausible. Divorce was not impossible in China in 1928; in any case, it would have been legitimate for Miao to have taken a secondary wife (tsip), as his wife's father, the Macau merchant, had done on several occasions. Adoption was, and is, a common practice in China and often utilised when a married man has no male heir. Even if Miao had been barred by his devotion to Christianity, a monogamous religion, from either divorcing his wife or taking a concubine, religious scrupulousness does not seem to provide a realistic motive for his crime. One surmises that if the statement were in fact made by Miao, it was an afterthought, a justification for a cruel murder and theft. One would agree with Travers Humphreys that Miao was an ‘odd fellow'; but to the non-murderous most murderers must appear odd, simply because they have indulged in, rather than daydreamed about, murder they have crossed the line that separates the good and the not-so-good from the truly bad. Narrowing the gap Lock Ah Tam and Dr. Miao Chung-yi exemplify, broadly speaking, the two strands of Chinese migration into Britain: uneducated or lower-class Chinese and educated or upper-class Chinese. In 1901, according to MacNair, there were only 387 Chinese reported as resident in England and Wales; 1,319 in ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1983 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v language. The third reason for the house was that a place was needed for the priests living up country in China to take their summer vacation. Now to the 'when' of the house. Early in the thirties, our founder Bishop James A. Walsh was here, and he wanted to build a house for the just mentioned reasons. He contacted a Chinese real estate man, Mr. Lee Ue Ch'eung. Incidentally he was the brother of that famous shoe maker Mr. Lee Ue Kei who was known locally as Leaky Lee the shoemaker. Well, Mr. Lee told our founder to meet him at the Hong Kong side of the Star ferry one morning, and they then drove out in his horse and buggy through Aberdeen to Repulse Bay. From there they followed the old military track that swung around the mountain and dropped down into Stanley. As Mr. Lee and our founder came around the mountain, Mr. Lee pointed out this hillock and said that was the place he thought might be suitable for the center. Our founder took one look, and said 'I'll take it. It's exactly what I want'. At that time there was nothing in Stanley except the Fortress, the Prison, St. Stephen's College and of course the small fishing village. Construction started in 1933, and was finished in 1935. When planning was going on, the depression reached its height and the building was reduced in size two times. There was a big discussion about whether to put in expensive hard wood or cheap soft wood. The hard wood boys won out, and the white ants have ever since been breaking off their teeth on this wood. Had the soft wood been put in, it would have had to be changed practically every year. The house was built before air conditioning, and so is very cool in summer, and very cold in winter. The house is built like a big "U". In this wing, the ground floor is now used for conferences, and the chapel is upstairs. In the opposite wing, the ground floor has staff quarters and maintenance shops. The upstairs has our parlor, television room, and a small library. On the ground floor of the South wing are the offices, the dining rooms, and the kitchen. The next two floors contain bedrooms. At that time, there were these wide open spaces in Stanley and quite a bit of wild life. There were barking deer and monkeys. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1983 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v 97 in the N. E. corner. My pilot not being acquainted with the channel, I got a fisherman's boat to go up with one of the Chinamen I had on board, to see if he could recognise his property. He shortly returned on board, saying his boat was there, and that the other boats were pirates. I immediately stood in under easy steam, when the pirates seeing my intention, made sail, and ran through the channel towards Wanchowchow (Stonecutters). I fired a few shots at them, but they soon got under the cover of the land. Then sending my boats after them, and running round outside the Island. I had the satisfaction of driving them on shore, and destroying five, as well as liberating two market-boats with several passengers who had been in confinement for several days. Three captured men are sworn to by one of the owners of the boats, and I have sent them in irons to Hong Kong. These piratical boats had all the rebel flag flying and fired upon our boats, without however doing any damage. Ma Wan ("Horse Bay"). This island is low-lying, although the geological structure is the same as Tsingyi and Lantau. The east coast has a fine bay, almost unapproachable for rocks. The inhabitants are mostly Hakka. One of the Customs stations built for the so-called "Blockade of Hong Kong" during the 1870s and 1880s still stands on this island; it is now used as a school. The waters around Ma Wan are known as Kapshuimun ("Rushing Water Channel"). The name is apt since Kapshuimun has about the swiftest tiderip of any channel in Hong Kong. It is 25 fathoms deep. It is the track of all steamers from Hong Kong going to and from the Delta. Opposite Ma Wan, on the south shore of Kapshuimun, that is, on the northernmost tip of Lantau, are the only wolframite mines in the islands. Lantau. This is our biggest island, two and a half times the size of Hong Kong Island. Lantau Peak is the highest peak in the Ladrones 3061 feet. The northern end is almost deserted except for a few tiny hamlets round Yam O (“Hidden Haven"), a perfect smugglers' ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1983 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v 110 The very latest is that some enterprising folk of these parts have committed a piracy on a junk there, and five or six of them are up before the District Officer, South, on a committal charge. At the northern end of High Island is the interesting feature called the Dry Channel or Kon Mun. It is a fiord formed by the sunken mouth of the valley running northwest by Lan Nai Wan, which is connected on the west with the other channels. Into it has poured the whole of the silt from the upper valley: and as this point is precisely where the two tidal waves sweeping round High Island meet, the silt is heaped up there without any chance of it getting carried away. Nothing bigger than a small sampan can traverse it, and then only at high water.3 Leaving this fascinating island group by the often stormy route past Conic Island and Fung Head, we reach the mouth of Taipo Harbour, with Kang Chau (a little rock built up of volcanic ash beds), Grass Island, with the fishing village of Tap Mun on it, and Port Island. This last island is uninhabited. The islands in Taipo Harbour are mostly of sandstone and shale, but are otherwise of little interest. They are Harbour Island, Centre Island, and lastly, the island near Taipo station where the District Officer, North, lives, though since the causeway carrying the road was built, this is no longer an island. Going out again round Bluff Head, we come to another island-studded stretch of sea. Three large and sixteen small islands occupy it, and it is a most beautiful piece of water. Double Island, the first you come to, is in two halves joined by a low, narrow neck: the Crescent Island, beside it, is uninhabited, but Kat ("Lucky Harbour") Island, not being very lofty, has a good deal of its surface under cultivation. There is yet one more island, and this is in some ways the most curious of all. It lies away across Mirs Bay, two miles from the Chinese coast, from which it draws a good deal of its drinking water by means of waterboats. It is called, very appropriately, Pingchau ("Flat Island"). When I was there, I did not see any paddy whatever; all cultivation was dry, and often the fields were unterraced and sloping, quite different from other parts of the New Territory, yet the island is populous, in ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1983 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v 211 obtained from a well or stream before noon on the 7th day of the 7th moon*. The water will turn black, and should then be drunk. I then asked about herbal medicines in use in the village in the earlier part of this century, especially those that could be collected from the adjoining hillsides, and with special reference to those used to reduce excess heat in the body. The following plants were listed: 竹葉 消山虎 水感草(雨淋後感冒才用) 白花仔 蘇菜 盧樹心 細葉卜九酸 埔地錦 地胆頭 酸籐笛 Among these, the 竹葉 assumed special importance in the treatment of cold or fever. It was ground up with a little salt and put into a bucket. All the other herbs were put together in cold water in a second bucket, then brought to the boil and continued at the boil for 30 minutes. This general boiled mix was then added to the ground up 竹葉 mixture in the other bucket. Anyone suffering from a heavy cold or fever wrapped himself in a blanket, and sat over the infusion, absorbing the vapour for about fifteen minutes and producing sweat. Then the leaves would be taken out and the water would be left until a bath could be taken without discomfort, after which the person must walk around. These plants had to be fresh, and could be picked for this purpose when needed. They were available in all four seasons, and the roots could be used in winter, being identifiable by their smell. Women were generally more knowledgeable on this subject than men, and their knowledge was passed down through the family. * This brought us to the subject of this special water. The villagers believe that water obtained on that day (ngau long chik nui) as described above will never go bad, and can be used in potions and leung cha drink. This water must not be kept in metal tak, they said—but in a nga ch'ing, with a small mouth, or a bottle. It will keep for 60 years. ng kam an earthen jar ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 112 JAMES HAYES en are all of the sort that go barefooted and work in the field. I have not seen one small-footed woman here. At least 8/10 of men here smoke opium.' As we have seen, Aberdeen, about the same time, was, as Collinson reports, also a fishing port. According to another military observer, Captain Cunynghame, it contained about 200 buildings, and had “a very respectable appearance”. It is thus very likely that it engaged in the same mixed business as Stanley, and contained a similar size of population and a similar mixture of people.24 The villagers were essentially farmers and fishermen relying on their padi fields for a subsistence rice crop twice a year, supplemented by coastal fishing. The old style of village life, that must have characterized Hong Kong's settlements before British rule, lingered on in its essentials well into this century until squatters and development ended the old life style. Even as late as 1967, at Little Hong Kong, Old Village, an old lady then aged 80 told me that her's had been the first family in the village to apply for a mains water supply ten years before, and some villagers were still in 1967 cutting grass to use as fuel to heat water, cook pig food, etc. and going to the foreshore to find edible items. In earlier days, the hillsides were apportioned for grass cutting between clans and their member families as in the New Territories, and she had changed areas where she married a man in another clan from the New Village. Besides being cut for fuel at home, grass was taken to Aberdeen and Deep Water Bay to sell to the boat people anchored there. They used it to burn the marine growth from the underside of their craft at regular intervals (usually twice a month), as was done in many coastal villages in the area. The villagers used the adjacent sea shore to supplement their diet, waiting for the tide to go out and spending up to four or five hours daily in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th lunar months (March till May or June) gathering sea eggs, digging in the sand for clams, looking for other shell fish among the stones and gathering sea weed to feed the pigs. Both men and women engaged in the work, and she recalls both her mother and father carrying large baskets of sea ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 171 farmers as to whereabouts in Deep Bay is best for spat collecting although some claimed certain areas were better than others. Spat was collected at the mouths of the rivers and streams discharging into the north-east of the Bay before 1908, but since then spatfall has occurred throughout the Bay (Bromhall, 1958). Most oyster-men now assume that it is relatively random, subject to fulfillment of basic biological criteria, and consequently tend to operate a number of beds scattered throughout the Bay so that they would not be caught in any particular year without at least some spat. In all probability the variations in tidal currents have a substantial influence on the location of spat fall. In occasional years when towards harvest time the Deep Bay oysters are found to be insufficiently fat (random samples are opened to check), they are barged to Shajing for fattening. About one third of the Hong Kong oyster beds in Deep Bay are devoted to fattening. Shajing is about 27 km up the Pearl River estuary from Deep Bay. Although it is a place which keeps recurring in any discussions of the oyster industry, it is only used as a fattening area during autumn and winter when the salinity is around 20 g/kg. In summer, when salinity drops to as low as 1 g/kg on occasions, no oysters are to be found at Shajing. Oysters are shipped from many locations along the South China coast outside of the Pearl River estuary to Shajing for fattening. There are no data to support the claim made by most farmers that very fertile waters exist at Shajing, but the place does serve as an oyster holding centre. Oysters are shipped from Shajing to market; Lau Fau Shan in Hong Kong being the main export market. The ultimate origin of oyster imports into Hong Kong whether by the official or unofficial route is thus not easily determined. The oyster species Chinese oystermen recognise two major types of oyster. The first is called Bai Hao (白蚝) or white oyster, which is also known by its Chinese scientific name Zhang Mu Li which means long ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1985 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gt54s866x 114 BARBARA E. WARD 22 All but one of Kau Sai's long-liners fall into the category Small long-liner. A small long-liner shoots his lines direct from his junk, which is on average about 30-35 feet in overall length. Bigger long-liners (classed as Medium or Large Long-liners) carry sampans for the shooting and hauling of lines. Baiting-up is always done on the mother ship. In 1950 the Large Long-liners based mainly on Shaukiwan were the aristocrats of the Hong Kong fishing fleets, wealthy men, employing large crews. Informants claimed that before the Japanese occupation two or three of these large boats had been based on Kau Sai anchorage. By 1970 shortages of labour had driven nearly all of them out of business. Kau Sai then boasted one Medium Long-liner. The nylon line, which everywhere replaced the old ramie during the early 'sixties, was greatly appreciated for lightness, strength and quick drying, but it tangled easily and so made baiting-up an even more finicking job than before. 23 Note on this and role of F.M.O. (N.B.) and on numbers of pupils etc: 84 in 1970. [Note not written; for related information, see T.A. Acton, "Education as a by-product of fish marketing,” JHKBRAS vol, 21 (1981) pp 120-143.] 24 In 1969 a special typhoon shelter, with concrete break-waters, was constructed at Government expense at Yim Tin Tsai a well sheltered cove to the north of Kau Sai island. 25 The Fish Marketing Organisation, a non-government trading organisation controlled by a Government Servant, the Director of Marketing, was established in 1945. The Director is empowered to control the landing, movement and wholesaling of all marine fish (except shellfish and marine fish 'alive and in water'). For further detail see Chapter V below. In 1950 controlled wholesale markets existed at Shaukiwan and Kennedy Town on Hong Kong Island, in Kowloon, and at Tai Po in the New Territories. The Kennedy Town market was transferred to Aberdeen in 1952 and the Kowloon market to Cheung Sha Wan in 1966. A fifth market was opened at Castle Peak in 1969. The Organisation also maintains collecting depots and/or other offices at Cheung Chau, Castle Peak, Tsun Wan, Sha Tau Kok and Sai Kung. 26 A male recreation; women in 1950 always wore long hair, shampooing their own or each other's with... [note incomplete] 27 On this and the whole question 'What is a real Kau Sai person? see below Chapters 5 and [p. 75]. [The following indicates how this question might have been answered: "The non-kin groups to which he sees himself belonging are also few. First there is the village as a whole: Kau Sai. He may describe himself as a Kau Sai man, or refer, as he does very frequently, to 'our bay' as a membership unit. This includes all people for which Kau Sai bay is a permanent anchorage, or who have houses ashore there." "Sociological self-awareness: some uses of the conscious models”, Man (1966), vol. 1, p. 203.] 28 [G. William Skinner, "Marketing and social structure in rural China, Part 1,” Journal of Asian Studies, vol. 63 (1964), pp. 21-50.] 29 See also Ward 1967 and 1968. [Probably reference to articles cited in note 4.] 30 One most important aspect of the territoriality of all the fishermen was their inescapable need for credit. See below pp. 31 boon wan ge yan this expression which was used synonymously with "Kau Sai" was the more usual in colloquial speech. 32 [The next paragraph in the manuscript summarizes the argument here: "These ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1985 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gt54s866x 163 Edith and her fellow missionaries did not seem to have any higher opinion of the Chinese adults around them — excepting, of course, the Christians, who were another category altogether. Edith had found the Chinese in general noisy, quarrelsome and untrustworthy. In describing three nests of crows living in the trees above her house the first summer she was at Taiho, Edith wrote Louese: Three families (of crows) were raised over my head this summer, and there was no quiet to be enjoyed for Chinese crows are very loquacious and without number,... They are really Chinese crows for they quarrel a great deal and like to live huddled together.42 The crows raided the chicken coop and stole eggs, another characteristic Edith attributed to the Chinese. When Mr. Malcolm found a bag that was being used to hold several bats, which the Chinese women were preserving to make Chinese medicine, he immediately jumped to the conclusion that someone was taking advantage of the confusion of moving at the mission to “hide a piece of soap" with the intention of stealing it. On another occasion, Edith told Louese that despite the fact that she was busy and sick herself, she had to help tend the Ferguson children whose mother was ill, because "there is no one else to do it and a native cannot be trusted.” Still, in general, Edith found her work enjoyable if the monotony could be relieved once in a while. Earlier, when Edith was complaining about the bats living in her house, she was actually enjoying the episode. Apparently Mr. Malcolm had not handled the parcel with the bats well. He merely made astonished noises. Edith, with her Quaker training, was made of sterner stuff. She took the parcel back into her house, liberating the content in the process. Despite her chagrin, she recounted the story with relish. Then, in the summer of 1905, the missionaries at Taiho had a visitor with an unusual piece of equipment in his luggage. Edith told Louese: The monotony of Taiho has been varied too by a visitor, a young man came and took some pictures for us, will send ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1985 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gt54s866x 180 WEI PEH T'I very sticky mushy condition and Chinese shoes are not adapted to that, being only made of cotton cloth. Except we wear the wooden stilts like the men, like this π somewhat like skates. We have had a pleasant Christmas, spent it at the next station, twenty-three miles from here, our nearest foreign neighbors. Mr. and Mrs. Barnett have just returned from furlough and they have a beautiful little baby girl one year and a half old. It was a pleasure to see her and hold her and she did look so pretty after the little yellow babies and so clean, which the yellow babies are not. We meant to get there before them to get the place in readiness but we could not get boats all the week and were finally forced to go by wheel-barrow to get there at all. That is the usual mode of travel and very comfortable, but fearfully slow. We put our box on for a back and then our bed, then we sit on with our feet out over the wheel. These barrowmen are accustomed to pushing between four and five hundred pounds so we count a light-load and all the pay they get is ten cents a day. We always pay for their return trip too making 20 cents, and a tip if they have pleased us. Wherever we go we take our bed with us, that is a cotton wadding mattress and our bedding and quite understand now the meaning of “take up thy bed and walk”. I think I told you Mr. and Mrs. Malcolm have been planning for some time to go on furlough and there did not seem to be anyone to send in their place. Now a Mr. and Mrs. Ferguson are coming with three children, the eldest one about six so in three weeks we will be a houseful. This place is very small, just enough room for we three and an occasional visitor and how to take in two grown-ups and three children is a problem. But the Malcolms may be leaving as soon as they arrive. The children will be a great blessing here, always such a help in breaking down prejudices, for the people then think we are more like themselves. They cannot understand single women away from home in a strange place. I am generally accepted as Mrs. Malcolm's inferior wife. I got over feeling badly about it, as it is quite right in their eyes, and much better than for me to be living alone, for then I would have a bad name. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1986 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063 172 CARL SMITH He wrote: "The farce of bringing up Chinese in English fashion the decoration of swine with pearls will probably by this exposure, receive a deserved check." And in another diatribe he remarked: "Give a Chinese boy an English education, and you give him the means to become a greater rogue than he was born." The newspaper correctly predicted that the case would not come before the court for lack of sufficient evidence, even though it was placed on the calendar for the next Criminal Sessions. The prisoner, however, would be kept in prison for a time and then quietly released. "Thus," the paper commented, "the whole matter will be hushed up quietly; and the London Missionary Society's operation in China will not be abridged by the loss of a useful member. The society, however, did not take the matter lightly. A-sow was suspended from the church until he should show proper contrition, and he was relieved of his part-time teaching duties. He was later restored, but only to fall again. REPRIEVED ONLY TO STRAY AGAIN Dr. James Legge had a forgiving spirit. When Ho Fuk-tong had violated an accepted moral code while a student at Malacca, he was received back by Dr. Legge, an act Dr. Legge was never to regret. Perhaps he had this in mind in his attitude towards Ng Mun-sow after his involvement in the case of the missing bills of exchange. After his appearance at Court, A-sow had been suspended from church privileges and dismissed as an assistant teacher, though he was not completely cut off from the mission community. To have done so would have probably bound him closer to the bad companions he had been associating with and who had led him astray. This, at least, was Dr. Legge's view of the matter. The decision seemed justified when some months later A-sow submitted a letter to the church expressing deep sorrow for his ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1986 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063 240 CARL SMITH then asked to allot a space for us, but this was peremptorily refused. We were obliged to stand outside the ring. "As we did not know nor could we hear what passed in the ring, we asked that any resolution put to the meeting should be explained in Chinese, so that those of us who did not know English might understand its meaning. Mr. Ng Choy, who was there, was good enough to convey our wishes to the Chairman, but when we heard that our reasonable request was refused, we all left and took no part whatever in the proceedings of the meeting. "It has been said that printed slips containing a translation of the resolution in Chinese were circulated. I and many of my friends never received one copy. I have made some enquiry and have found one; it contained only some of the resolutions. The translation is so bad that I could scarcely make out its meaning. "Of our right to take part in that meeting, there cannot be the least doubt. In fact we were invited by the promoters to take part and attend. Anticipating our presence, and believing that a great majority could not know English enough to understand its proceedings, the promoters had properly provided an interpreter for the occasion. And yet when we requested that the substance of a resolution should be rendered into Chinese to the Chinese audience, it was absolutely refused and thus our presence was entirely ignored. No great affront could have been offered to us. "It has been attempted to make the public believe that we (Chinese) who went to the meeting had bound ourselves to oppose the resolutions proposed and at the signal of one or two gentlemen to outvote the Europeans. This is a gross insult to our intelligence. Is it probable that we should submit ourselves to be led by the nose by any one man? "I think we are equal in intelligence and common sense to those foreign gentlemen at the meeting. It may with more truth be said that they had pledged themselves beforehand to support the resolution than to insinuate that we were bound to oppose them. It may be an interesting question that of the many foreigners who so readily supported the resolution, how many did understand their ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 114 Tie. The best man held a black umbrella over the groom, draped with a strip of red cotton: although it was not raining, bad spirits may have been about and it is common Chinese tradition to protect those about to be married from harm befalling them. The procession reached the temple of Ma Jo (#), the Hoklo name for Tin Hau. This is the main temple in Yim Liu Ha. The women redoubled their rowing efforts and the Chilin cavorted and stretched as the groom and best man went in. After making obeisance to the god, they came out, bowed and lit incense at the little shrine opposite the temple, all the while to the deafening accompaniment of gongs and cymbals. Firecrackers were set off and after a further brief visit to the temple, the procession continued on its way to the shrine of the earth god, To Dei Gung (±‡A) at the beginning of the village. Two of the rowers were now carrying small branches of kumquat leaves with which they flailed the air. The Chilin pounced and postured, incense was burned as a sign of respect, and the god offered food from a basket of carefully arranged chickens and other tasty morsels. The bridegroom and best man bowed to the god, more firecrackers were set off, and the procession reformed to return to the house, taking with it the basket of food. The proceedings so far had taken about an hour, and all felt entitled to a rest. Then at 11:30 am, the procession resumed as the bridegroom prepared to leave the village to collect his bride from Kwan Tei. This time he was carrying a bouquet of artificial pink roses to give to the bride. The women rowers had increased in number: the drummer at the front now wearing a funny hat, while of the eight in the middle, two pairs were wearing aprons while two pairs were not. These were followed by the woman representing the tail of the dragon, and then by a "fortunate" woman whose parents were both living and who had several children. She was carrying a round rattan sieve with pomelo leaves, cypress leaves, and two pieces of ginger root, traditional emblems of marriage, long life, and fertility. After this came the Chilin, the band, and the groom and best man with the umbrella. They stopped briefly outside the temple and the earth god to ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 115 bow once more, then the procession wended its way round the village square to where the groom's car and those of his attendants were parked. The groom's car was decorated in the usual fashion with rosettes along the bonnet and a Western doll in a white dress at the centre. Cymbals clashed, the Chilin postured around each wheel and to the front and back to prevent bad spirits from following the groom and best man into the car. Firecrackers were set off and the car left for Kwan Tei accompanied by friends and relatives. At 1.30 pm we returned to find everyone waiting in the village square. The women had really entered into the fun by embellishing their outfits, and were now dressed in funny hats with small leafy branches stuck in some of them. The old woman with the rolled up trouser leg who was playing the part of the dragon's tail, was now wearing a yellow plastic colander, decorated with beads and ornaments, upturned on her head. At her back she had a small cushion stuffed under her sam which had been tied tightly to form a large lump! She was carrying a pink plastic beaker, and holding a wooden stick with a red piece of cloth tied to the top. Two women were holding a bamboo pole, supposed to be the rudder, which had crushed beer cans tied to the bottom and at the top a small branch of kumquat leaves. More women now prepared to join the Dragon Boat procession. Those without the proper accessories improvised by either wearing ordinary kitchen aprons, or else ones to which they had added some handsome decoration of beads and embroidery at the neck. There was an air of great frivolity as all entered into the spirit of the festivities. Soon the car returned carrying the bride and groom. More firecrackers were set off, cymbals clashed and the Chilin cavorted around the car, covering it, touching it, and bowing to each wheel. The women with bamboo poles and tin cans danced as the assembled crowd fought enthusiastically to get a first look at the bride. She was dressed in the traditional hung kua and red leather shoes, with cypress leaves and gold ornaments in her hair, and was carrying the bouquet given to her by the groom. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 287 A duck and chicken wholesaler, one of the 73 managers for this year and a resident for over forty years, added that, in pre-war days, lion dancers from other districts would come uninvited to join the procession and compete for the money. This was the general practice in urban Hong Kong, and greatly contributed to both the excitement and the squabbles. The annual celebrations were made more colourful, and noisier and more bustling still, by the presence of groups of worshippers who came in a body to worship at the temporary shrine and competed for the lucky crackers or pau (ki) which were fired from a bamboo gun. They exploded in the air to shower the worshippers with lucky papers, for which youths struggled to obtain for their homes. There was a money value attached to the first and subsequent numbers in the series, which increased the competitiveness of the occasion and added to its general roughness. A prosperous merchant might offer $500 for the first pau, the manager said. It is obvious that in all these types of activity during the festival, excitement was at a high level, and tempers were hot. A propos of this, and as we were watching the boys holding up the front lion dancer on his pole, the vice-chairman said, “We won't put up with uncontrolled temper. If a lad can't keep it, he gets put out of the dance group”. In 1974, perhaps, it was easier to take this line than in earlier times, when competition was one of the highlights of these celebrations. By then, and as a direct result of the 1967 Disturbances, fire-crackers had been banned, and the processions round the streets to vie for the prizes dangling from shop fronts had been discontinued after the police ban. It was a quieter, and less boisterous event, at least in these respects, as a consequence of more crowded streets and increased vehicular traffic, which confined it to the playground and the restaurant in which the annual dinner was held to mark the occasion. The ground was packed with people, and could not have held more. This year, there were several women managers among the 73 selected for the event. I was told that men and women, without distinction or restriction, could be managers, and that this had ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1988 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q 36 consisted of several persons, including William Sheldon and Sage's wife, Anne Tilney Sage. This marked the first time a woman from outside the Yunnan and Sichuan mountains had participated in hunting the giant panda. On December 8, 1934, the expedition achieved its objective. Sage recorded in his journal that, after days of tracking with local guides and dogs in the mountains, he and William Sheldon felled a giant panda. We walked along the ridge for about two hours and then stopped to rest a while on a sunny slope. At this point, the pursuit seemed vain and decidedly discouraging. The dogs showed not the slightest interest. Suddenly, I heard the deep, angry growl of a large animal, and I began to get really excited. And, then as if in a dream I saw a giant panda coming through the bamboos about sixty yards away from me. He was heading straight up the ravine with the dogs at his heels. I fired, but missed..... He's only twenty feet away, now fifteen, he's coming straight at me, I jammed (a cartridge) into the gun and fired. ... He was less than ten feet from me! At the same moment Bill shot from above, and the animal, struck simultaneously by both our bullets, rolled over and over down the slope and came to stop against a tree fifty yards below. We have killed a giant panda. A baby panda captured The first live giant panda exported from China was captured in Sichuan in 1936 by an American woman, Ruth Harkness. William Harkness had died in Shanghai early in the year while embarking on a giant panda search. Defying all opposition - sexist and otherwise - his widow Ruth took on the task and led the expedition into the mountains of Sichuan. In November, she succeeded in capturing a three-pound female baby panda, "no more than ten days old", Resultant excitement was considerable. The baby panda, subsequently named Su Lin, was flown from Chengdu to Shanghai by air. Customs Page 60 Page 61 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1988 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q 90 Kwangtung province formerly, I found the people could earn their living. Latterly since the people have been moved inside the boundary, they have gradually died off. Out of every ten of them about eight or nine have been killed by the removal. The best thing that can be done at present, as we cannot allow them to return to their homes, is to allow the boundary limit to be made larger so that the farmers may find a place to farm and the fishermen room for fishing." Nothing came of the position, but the Viceroy's interest in their plight was remembered by the people and they were grateful to him. In the 5th year of Hong Hei there was a bad drought in Kwangtung and the Emperor gave order that the rice kept in the Government granaries should be given to the people. It was during that year the San On district was abolished, all government appointments there were cancelled, and what was originally San On was added to Tung Kwun (東莞). During this time the Governor Wong Loi Yam (黃律琰) wrote a report to the throne suggesting that six principal causes of growing discontent should be removed. At first no notice was taken of this effort but in the 6th year of Hong Hei, when things were getting worse, the Emperor allowed Governor Wong's suggestions to be carved on stone tablets, and each city gate had one of the tablets displayed there. Beyond that, the Emperor did nothing, but the fact that someone was interesting himself on their behalf helped to soothe the increasing resentment of the people. The Governor Wong was a very good man and he made great improvements in a lot of government affairs. It is said that he dressed as a common man during his leisure and spent much time talking to the simple farming people. In this way he learnt much about his subordinates, which were good and which were bad, and he really benefited his people. But he was unable to get on with the ministers in Peking and in the following year he was dismissed by the Emperor and ordered to return to Peking. When Wong received the message of his dismissal he wrote his valedictory address and in it he mentioned five important steps which should be taken to ease the burden on his people. Two of these were that the numbers of troops should be reduced in Kwangtung, and the boundary be removed, the people being allowed to return to their homes. He then started off for Peking, but a Lei P’aai (里排) (chief of the village elders) named Poon Shai Ts'eung (潘世璋) heard about this, and went to beg the Emperor to allow Wong to retain his post. Wong died, whether... ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1988 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q 116 had to postpone its Christmas celebrations by a week, and that several Kauluwela boys were unsuccessful in their attempt to enter high school. After a quarantine of a week, the disease was considered stamped out. Ping Lim and Ting On, both of whom were attending Oahu College, were on a three-week vacation then. In a letter dated 20 February 1900, Ping Lim wrote: "My dear brother Ping Yip Chan:- On account of the great distance between town and our residing place in Moanalua and the inconvenience of getting your letter at once which came to me on Tuesday afternoon, the 14th of Feb., when the steamer was about to leave, I did not answer you immediately. You are, no doubt, wondering why I am in Moanalua. The cause was that S. M. Damon was afraid that his brother F. W. Damon's residence and the school might burn down in case one of our members should have attached the plague, and also the school's neighbourhood is in a very bad condition. So we moved to a small island owned by S. M. Damon, which is near to the 3 mi. water pumping tank, and borrowed six tents from the Kamehameha School to make our chambers. Four of them used for us, sixty in number, and one for the three teachers, and one for a food storeroom. You may think it is crowded but there the ocean wind is pretty strong. At first we expected to live there one week or two, but after having been there a week the news reached us, stating that several Chinamen working in the Pantheon stables, which are adjacent to our school, have died of plague and so these buildings were soon turned to ashes. Afterwards the whole block in which we live was said to be infected and a rough fence has been built around the block. The people of this spot have been put under quarantine. Had we not made the move we are surely in quarantine. Now I must turn to another important subject. Well, you have told me that the burning of Chinatown is the most cruel act that was done to our Chinese by the whites. No, the properties destroying itself was not so half bad as to see our ignorant helpless bind-footed Chinese women and babies crying and running forcibly for their lives on the streets, when the unexpected fire came. More than this, some few women who were about to let their babies out to earth were pushed to the drays which took them to quarantine. While during these hours it has been said that some births have occurred. Of course the Chinamen were driven like cattle by the inspectors who carried stakes or some other beating instruments in their hands. After that the men and women, numbering several thousand, were taken to the Kawaiahau Church and grounds. The women lived inside the church while the men outside on the grounds with tents. I am sorry to say that father, brother and in-law's whole family were among these people. During their residing in the church, I went to see father every day, asking if there was anything wanting. Many articles and foods have been taken there by our store partners. But after having been in there for a week they were driven to Kalihi just a little below the Kamehameha School where a great number of new rough rooms have been set up. In Kalihi's I can't see any of our known people to talk with there. All I can do is to send letters to them. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1988 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q 122 of Chung made a good marriage, for her husband, Leong Ting Bau of How Village, was the holder of the highest military degree, which gave him honour and status. He, however, had turned out to be an unfaithful husband and a ne'er-do-well, and Aunt Leong did not have an easy life. She had two children but they both died very young. I regret that I did not ask Father to tell me more about her. Third Paternal Aunt Third Paternal Aunt, the youngest of Father's three sisters, was Chan Yung Yick, born on 27 January 1872, and married to Auyoung Chew Chong ‡, a native of Ma Tse Village. He was born on 9 December 1871. Their children, all sons, were: Suk Jun born 8 August 1889 Suk Nam born 22 September 1905 Suk Chiu born 26 June 1909 Uncle Auyoung settled in Reno, Nevada, when he went to the United States, where he worked as a tailor. In 1921 Suk Jun followed his father to the United States to study in San Francisco, sailing on the S.S. China. He remembers Father taking food to him when the ship docked in Honolulu because as an alien, he was not permitted to go ashore. It was a happy meeting, their first, and the beginning of a long friendship between him and us. Suk Jun said his mother often missed her siblings and would show him my Father's photograph. In 1912, when his mother was ill, his father told him to go back to take care of her. On 24 December that year, he married Ching Lai So, a native of On Dung Village. She was born on 6 March 1906. They settled in Hong Kong, where he worked as a bank clerk. They had four sons and three daughters. Uncle Auyoung returned to China in 1926 with his wife and youngest son when he was 55 years old to retire in his native village. After Aunt Auyoung died on 24 November 1948 and the takeover of China by the Communists, he went to live with Suk Jun in Kowloon, where he died on 19 April 1957 at the age of 86. It was then that Suk Jun felt that he had fulfilled his responsibility to his parents and that he would now seek a new life for himself. Thus, in 1962, he returned alone to the United States, first to Chicago, and later in 1973 to California where his wife ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1988 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q 130 and settled in a new home at the East Gate of Shekki. A son, Tin Suk, was born a year later, followed by two daughters, Ah Fook and Ah Look. When all three children came down with a serious illness, only Tin Suk survived. I treasure a vignette of Grandfather beside a horse tied to a tree behind our Iwilei home, ready to leave for Kaneohe, and another one of him sitting on a chair and asking me to press my face against the stub of his whiskers. I pushed his face away, but Ruth did not resist. He told Mother that he liked my 'spirit', a trait she considered as stubbornness, and tried to subdue by applying the rod generously. It is hard to understand why Grandfather did not leave any money to Uncle when he left Hawaii. This meant years of hardship for Uncle and his family. Everyone had to share in the numerous tasks. The children had many chores: cutting grass to feed the pigs, beating kerosene cans to frighten flocks of birds which came to dine on ripening grain, pasting bags out of newspaper to protect melons from destructive insects, helping with the threshing of grain and bagging of the paddy, and on and on. Aunt's work was endless. In addition to child-bearing, she shared in the planting and harvesting of both rice and vegetables, chopped guava trees which were in great abundance on the hillside for firewood, cooked three meals every day, and saw to the needs of the children. Although Annie, the oldest child, was not a boy, she had to help in ploughing the fields at an early age, and had little opportunity to attend school. One crop of rice a year was general, but some years Uncle managed two plantings. Vegetables were also grown: cucumber, bitter melon, mustard cabbage, napa, bak choy, water chestnut, watercress. At harvest time, as well as during the planting season, itinerant workers had to be hired. It was men against weather. They transferred the rice seedlings into the watery mud fields, inserting a few stalks at a time in neat, straight rows. When the grain ripened, the rice stalks were cut with sickles and laid row on row in neat piles for bundling. Sheaves of grain, balanced on each end of a long pole, were carried on the shoulder to the threshing ground, which was a large concrete area with a stake in the centre. A horse tied to it would be driven round and round to stomp the grain from the stalks, which were then pitch-forked away into a mountain-high pile that served as a play area for the children. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1988 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q 139 As reasonable as these amounts seem to us today, Father could not continue without financial help. Highly motivated, he again turned to his brothers for assistance, because he felt that men without an education were like 'dumb cattle driven by others.' First Uncle replied on 6 July 1898 that he felt 'miserable' because he could not help. He compared himself to a well, drawn dry and needing time to be refilled, because his responsibilities had increased with so many relatives dependent upon him. However, he promised to do what he could. Second Uncle, who had gone to Shanghai, wrote on 29 August 1898 that he was in no position to assist and added that he was glad Father was earning money by teaching and that Father should go on to college and study law, medicine or dentistry. The next year, on 3 May 1899, First Uncle again wrote, urging Father not to discontinue his schooling until the end of the year unless he had the consent of Grandfather, even though the job offer he received from a local newspaper might be tempting. Father must have finished the school year, for on 7 July 1899, First Uncle wrote to congratulate him on his graduation, noting that he had accepted a position with the Honolulu Chinese Times Bar as translator and reporter, and regretted that he was unable to advise him about going into business because conditions were not the same in different places. Second Uncle also wrote on 19 July 1899, commending Father for choosing a 'good' subject to deliver at the graduation exercises and encouraging him to continue to study while working. Father probably was looking for a job and business opportunities at the same time. He corresponded with friends in Kauai, in Hilo, and as far as Australia. A friend, Au Goon Bick, who had gone to Kapaa, Kauai, wrote in July that he was working for Lum Keed and that Yim Goon Siu of Honolulu was visiting him then. (Yim was the uncle of Cousin George Yim and was also working for the Honolulu Chinese Times. He later went to Shanghai where he ran a printing business.) Yim also wrote several times to Father about this Kauai trip - how he became seasick as soon as the boat passed Waianae and how he forgot his discomfort as soon as he met a number of young ladies with whom he had much fun singing. He expressed surprise that one of them, a sister of Wong Fat and a student at Kamehameha School, could speak English as well as both the Heong Shan and Nam Long dialects. (I suspect that ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1988 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q 148 have been had he been alive when Ruth graduated from McKinley High School first in her class, with honours and a gold medal, or when she received a degree in medicine. Although our dresses were home-made, our shoes and hats were from fancy shops on Fort Street, then the main shopping centre of Honolulu. Whenever Father took us out, he would tell us to 'dress up like a duchess'. Sometimes he would take us to a cinema, or to a stage show, or to a musical at the Y.M.C.A. A visit to the Bishop Museum was always followed by a pause at the site of the mental hospital then located on School Street, where we would peep through the knot holes of the fence to observe the bizarre behaviour of the inmates. When Queen Liliuokalani died and her body was on view in Kawaiahao Church, he took Ruth, Helen and me to this sad and historical event. I remember him carrying me out onto our porch in Iwilei to point out a comet with a wide spray of bright light. I believe it was Halley's Comet. These may not be unusual experiences for children of today, but in the early 1900s, they were not common for Chinese children. Father's interests extended beyond our home. There were always illiterate women friends asking him to write letters. He did volunteer work at the Berentania Street Mission under the direction of Mrs. Elijah J. Mackenzie, a missionary who spoke fluent Chinese. There he taught English to young men newly arrived from China, gathered with them in worship, and interpreted for the Sunday and evening services when a sermon was given in English. When the Rev. Schenck came to Hawaii to administer the missions for the Hawaiian Board, he dispensed with Father's help so abruptly that it hurt Father deeply. Father had other community interests. He was one of the early members of the Chinese Y.M.C.A. which was located behind the Fort Street Chinese Church. Among its members were En Sue Kong, Luke Chan, Yim Quan and Tom Joon Yai. Father also served as English secretary for the See Dai Doo Society for many years, until his death. He would often drop by Wing On Tai for a chat or to do business; he would visit with friends from his village or nearby areas at the Pui Gun Horse Stable, located off Pauahi Street near River Street. There he enjoyed their fellowship and the news from 'home'. He would always buy a bag of roasted peanuts from a well-known shop on Pauahi Street to enjoy on his way home. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1988 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q 166 Helen decided to go back to work and obtained a teaching position as substitute in a Chicago elementary school. This did not last long, because a bad automobile accident incapacitated her for some time and left her with some residual disability. Going out to work no longer appealed to her. Edmund went to Chicago to join Helen after her second marriage. After graduating in dentistry on June 23, 1957, he married Susan Loui on 6 July, 1957. Then he joined the U.S. Army, saw service in Germany and Korea, and retired after twenty years attaining the rank of Colonel. His marriage to Susan Loui was terminated in June, 1981. He is now retired in Colorado with his second wife, Gertrude Kristiansen, whom he married in August, 1981. His three children by Susan are: Kevin Thomas Chi-wing, born 19/6/60 Syrilyn Seu-lin, born 13/7/61 Clayton Edmund Chi-dun #, born 9/12/63 Since there was a difference of seven years between Helen and Dora, the latter found her playmates among the children of Mother's stepsister, Mrs. Pong Fai, who had come to Hawaii with her first-born in 1922 to join her husband. He was in the dry goods business on King Street, opposite the open markets in Chinatown. After a short stay with us, the Pongs moved to their own home on Lusitana Street, not far from us, and there Dora spent much of her free time with our Pong cousins Helen Wai Hing, Violet Wai Lin, Ernest Dung Sun, Herbert Cheong Fat, Ella Wai King, Claron Ah Hoon, Lily Wai Chiu, and Richard Kwock Hung. Dora was very active in contrast to them and she recalls accidentally striking Ernest on the head with a baseball bat, fortunately without serious injury. Because I was away at college from 1929 to 1932, I am not clear as to what went on at home during those years. I know that these were very difficult years for Mother and my sisters. Mother was concentrating on getting Ruth back to health and was neglecting to give Dora the attention she needed. Many of the household chores had to be assumed by Dora. She attended Royal School until the family moved to Kaimuki in the hope that Ruth would respond to a drier location. Dora then transferred to Liliuokalani Intermediate School for the 7th, 8th, and 9th ! ¡ ! ! ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 23 March Dr. Elizabeth Sinn "Management of the Chinese in 19th Century Hong Kong and the Role of the Tung Wah Hospital” The following Visits were made: 29 April 6 May 24 June 1 July Anita Wilson and Dr. James Hayes Visit to the Pottery Kiln at Tuen Mun, Ha Tsuen Tang Ancestral Hall and Old Market, Ling Wan Monastery (with vegetarian lunch), Lai Family Study Hall and Mansion at Sheung Tsuen, Hakka Mansion at Sham Ka Wai, and Yuen Long Old Market Dr. James Hayes and Ted Brown Visit to Kowloon Walled City, Again! Phillip Bruce Visit to Old Marine Police Headquarters at Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon Phillip Bruce Repeat of the Visit of 24 June 14 September Dr. Patrick Hase and Lee Man-yip Visit to Wo Hang for the Hot Air Balloon release at Mid Autumn Festival 25 November Dr. James Hayes 9 December Visit to places of interest on Hong Kong Island, including Waterfall Bay, the Aberdeen Country Park Management Centre, Chung Hom Kok, Shek O Village and Lei Yu Mun Barracks and Leisure Centre Rosemary Lee and Richard Gee Repeat of the N.T. Visit of 29 April 13-14 January Anita Wilson, Dr. Dan Waters, Rev. Carl Smith and Dr. Joseph Ting 22 January 18 February Week End Visit to Macao Phillip Bruce Visit to some interesting Naval and Military Graves in the Colonial Cemetery Phillip Bruce and Dr. Anthony Siu Visit to the Tung Chung Area, the site of Hong Kong's Future Replacement Airport This varied and interesting programme has again been due to the Activities Committee, which has worked hard under Dr. Elizabeth Sinn's ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 44 Commander of the Main Army [ff]) and the Yu Ying Kung share the sanctified premises and all offerings. The stalls in front of the temple sell 'gold paper' for the Wang Yeh and 'silver paper' for the Yu Ying Kung together in one bundle. Worshippers have to pay their respects at both temples or their prayers will not be answered. These are special characteristics of this temple. The temple was completed in 1824 and Wang Te-lu (E), an Escort to the Crown Prince and a native of Taiwan, went to Nan K’un Shen to pay his respects to the Wang Yeh. It was generally believed at that time that such deities are incarnated officials and are feared by demons. The way to test whether a deity is a genuine incarnation or not is for a living high official to kick the effigy of the god and if it is a demon in disguise then the effigy will fall over. Wang Te-lu kicked an image of one of the Five Wang Yeh with his boot but the image did not budge. The Yu Ying Kung is known in this temple as The Lord of the Myriad Kindnesses (Wan Shan Yeh). He is also referred to colloquially as the Infant Duke (FA). According to legend, one of the Five Wang Yeh of Nan K'un Shen in 1820 made a tour of inspection to the north of their area and encountered the local magistrate also on tour, in what is now Chia I. Neither would give away to the other and a dangerous confrontation took place. A nearby illiterate farmer suddenly had supernatural powers and wrote in the soil with his hoe, "Representing Heaven in order to deal with both the Yin and Yang worlds. Hope that the bad government will change for the better". The magistrate seeing these words hurriedly gave way. The local Prefect heard of the incident and decided that he would like to test the power and genuineness of the Wang Yeh. By coincidence the Wang Yeh was on his way to Tainan, where the Prefect had his Yamen, in the course of his inspection tour. So the Prefect ordered his men to tie an effigy of the Wang Yeh on the altar to a large tree stump and announced that if the effigy was unable to free itself from the tree stump then he, the Prefect would chop the effigy up for firewood. Nothing happened for two days and then, on the third day at midday two large black dogs appeared, jumped on to the shrine and tore away the large tree stump. The Prefect was very impressed and pledged that he would go each year to the shrine to worship before the Wang Yeh. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 68 members of the Kiu Kiang Defence Force, a small volunteer group recruited from the foreign residents. Some of the men were veterans of the Great War, and the force had originally been armed with rifles and Lewis guns provided by the Navy; however, to avoid all possible accident, these lethal weapons had been withdrawn and replaced with truncheons. Men were despatched to close the Concession gates so as to keep out accessions to the rioters from those directions, and by the exercise of a good-humoured restraint and some sang-froid the rioters were gradually dispersed and shepherded away. By nightfall all was quiet again at the cost of a few broken heads and windows, but the atmosphere remained dangerously charged with emotion. The Consul ruled that the women and children must be evacuated that very night in a river steamer, which he had caused to be held up for the purpose. I dashed off to our small flat overlooking the tennis courts at the back of the Concession to warn my wife. We had also our two infants, the one in arms and the other just able to walk; and their dear old amah, of course, had plenty of advice to give. During the early days, while the Revolutionary Army was still attacking the Northern troops who held the city, there was a certain amount of indiscriminate shooting and shots fell amongst the houses in the Concession. One came in through our front door and down the hall. The old amah then used carefully to drape a layer of blankets on the window side of the children's cots "to keep out the bullets", as she would ingenuously explain. On a large verandah outside the flat where a good view could be obtained of the back gate, the Navy had mounted a Lewis gun and installed an inlying piquet. My wife arranged to cook meals for the sailors, and what with the assistance of an occasional bottle of beer from the Club over the road, they voted that life in Kiu Kiang was not so bad. It was a change from the routine of shipboard and had one unforeseen result; the sailors made so strong an impression on our infants that when he grew up nothing would satisfy the elder boy but that he should join the Navy. Now the sailors volunteered to assist in the packing, but time was short and there was little room on the steamer for other than the bare essentials. It was more than any Chinese coolie's life was worth to be seen carrying baggage for the foreigners, and so with naval assistance husbands and bachelors helped each other to get the boxes down to the ship. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 82 and left copies with the Swiss Consul-General in Shanghai for his own information and for that of the Red Cross representative. In their original form I showed them to three responsible British subjects who left the Camp at the same time as I did, and they agreed that the notes gave a fairly accurate picture of the situation, though perhaps the colours were not dark enough. A copy of these notes, somewhat amended, is attached. A point which perhaps ought to have been made is that prior to internment at Stanley most of the "enemy nationals" in Hongkong and Kowloon had already been interned in Chinese hotels for periods varying from two weeks to six weeks in conditions of great discomfort and hardship and that they were seriously debilitated when they reached the Camp. They, and all the other "enemy nationals" who had so far escaped internment, were then thrown into the camp without adequate preparations having been made for their reception. In the Science Block of St. Stephen's College men, women and children found themselves herded together in large class rooms without beds, mattresses or furniture; there was only one lavatory for the block and no arrangements had been made for cooking food. Though the Japanese never actively ill-treated the civilian internees their whole attitude was unhelpful and unsympathetic. Consequently conditions were very bad during the first 2½ or 3 months. Then the Japanese began to realise the seriousness of the situation and conditions improved considerably, as I have indicated in my notes. Conditions were about at their worst in the middle of April, and when I was taken to the French Hospital on April 21st to have my leg X-rayed Dr. Selwyn Clark and Dr. Court both impressed on me that the food situation, not only in the camp but in the Colony generally was extremely serious since the Japanese were shipping all foodstuffs to Japan and were bringing nothing in. They said they expected the crisis to come at the end of July and they urged me to represent to the Foreign Office that if no relief was forthcoming the whole of the foreign community ought to be removed before the end of the Summer. I accordingly wrote a short message on these lines to H.M. Consul at Macao, which Dr. Selwyn Clark said he would be able to send through. I did all I could to get the Japanese to admit my diplomatic status and to include the whole of the Embassy and Consulate group in any exchange arrangements but, except for Mr. Yano's original assurance, they took the attitude that, as we had not been at our posts we had no special status, and beyond that there was a blank wall; we were not allowed to know even what had become of the Embassy and Consular establishments in occupied China. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 88 J left there were still many people who had neither beds nor mattresses. With the departure of the American internees at the beginning of July it had been possible to relieve a few of the worst cases of overcrowding, but the relief was quite insufficient, and for many I am tempted to say 'for most' — of the internees the overcrowding, the lack of privacy, and the consequent friction and nervous strain rank as a more serious hardship than the food shortage which I will deal with next. The food question falls into two phases. During the first 2 1/2 months the food was very bad indeed, totally insufficient in quantity, poor in quality, ill-cooked and deficient in nourishment. When I was in hospital my normal food was: breakfast two thin slices of bread (sometimes with a scrape of jam or margarine, sometimes dry) and one cup of tea; dinner, a bowl of rice and soya beans cooked with two or three small pieces of buffalo beef, pork or fish and some greens; tea, one cup of tea only; supper, one slice of bread, sometimes with a sliver of cheese, and a cup of soup of sorts. (This was better than the ordinary camp fare). During this period there was no way of supplementing the basic rations of rice, soya bean, meat (or fish) and greenstuff, and everyone lost weight severely; some men lost as much as 70 lbs. The hospital was full of dysentery and diarrhoea cases and there were a large number of cases of beriberi and other malnutrition diseases. In April, however, an issue of 1/2 lb. of flour a day was substituted for part of the rice ration and arrangements were made to bake bread in the camp. An immediate improvement in the general health of the camp appeared, and this was aided by certain other factors of which the principal were (a) the opening of a canteen where those who had any money could buy limited quantities of oatmeal, margarine, powdered milk, sugar, cocoa etc., at fancy prices, and (b) permission for parcels of foodstuffs, toilet necessities etc. to be sent in from the town. Those persons then who had money to spend at the canteen and friends in Hongkong were able to supplement their diet fairly satisfactorily. But there remained a large — a very large residue of people in the camp who had neither money nor friends in Hongkong and who were accordingly entirely dependent on their rations. These consisted when ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 132 and then went through Tan Tsz Hang to join the Sha Tau Kok to Sham Tsun road just before the nunnery. The other went through Lung Yeuk Tau to Hung Leng, before turning north along a line close to that of the present-day Ta Kwu Ling road, to join the road from Sha Tau Kok at Kan Tau Wai. The section of road past the nunnery, therefore, was part of the most important east-west route in the county, and at the same time part of one of the most important north-south routes, as well as being of great local significance. Sha Tau Kok was, in effect, the port for Sham Tsun to the east. Most of the fish for Sham Tsun was landed at Sha Tau Kok and carried inland by coolies. The 19 acres of saltpans at Sha Tau Kok produced considerable quantities of salt, and most of it was, again, taken inland by coolies to Sham Tsun for sale in the town and from the town to the other markets further north. Excess rice, too, from the whole of the Mirs Bay area, was landed at Sha Tau Kok and sent to Sham Tsun, which was the centre of a rice shortage area. There was, therefore, in the early part of this century, a steady flow of people passing the nunnery, and eager to avail themselves of the rest and shelter it offered. This traffic must, presumably, have been less in the eighteenth century, when local populations were much lower, and the infrastructure not yet fully developed - the saltpans, for instance, were only established in the years after 1825 - but was probably significant from early on. It remained significant right until the Law Fong bridge was effectively closed in 1950, although coolie traffic had by then been declining steadily for some time in favour of rail traffic over the Lo Wu bridge and truck traffic over the Man Kam To bridge, particularly after the opening of the Sha Tau Kok road in 1928. But at all dates from the late eighteenth century to 1950 the nunnery's shelter was a significant local factor. The role of the nunnery as a place of shelter is stressed in the couplet placed at the main entrance to the monastery at its reconstruction in 1868. This reads: 長亭惜別古道膽歧雨笠麈襟人日日 山鳥鳴春寺公送曉煙鍾風我年年 * Or, 長亭惜别占道臨歧雨等應襟人日日。山島鳴春寺聲送嶢煙鋪風磬我年年, See A (Ming Pao) 10.10.1991. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 175 was enough to account for that. In addition quite a few women were the wives of missionaries, and in religious circles suspicions about the theatre in general and the role of females in particular often still lingered on. This was indeed so conspicuous that the list of "contributors" in the first issue of "Puck" (April 1, 1871!) mockingly included: “Our Dramatic Critiques will be undertaken by the Missionary Body who are so frequently absent from the Performances and will therefore be impartial judges of the merits of the Performances". And then, of course, it may just have been possible that the taipans did not like to see their wives before the footlights with other men. Reading about the early Thespian evenings one may nonetheless be fooled into thinking that women had in fact taken their place on the stage. In the circumstances it was only natural that the "actresses” should be called "Miss" or "Mrs.", but what should we think about the glowing term in which one of them, a “Mrs Nesbit” (was this stage name a pun on the rather well-known British actress Louisa Nisbett?) was described on more than one occasion: “The acting of our charming favourite Mrs. Nesbit, as Mrs. Lullaby [in Henry Danvers' A Conjugal Lesson, on March 26, 1857 – JH] left nothing to be desired. It was perfect of its kind and were it not that she gave a too vivid, and, it may be, truthful portrait of that dread of club-haunting bachelors like ourselves, the matrimonial chamber, we could on the instant have made Mrs. Nesbit the offer of our hand”.* Stronger even, on February 16, 1859: # "But where shall we find words to express our admiration of Mrs. Nesbit, that beautiful Nesbit, who, blessed with an incomparable modiste, displayed so many feminine graces, such latent charms, as effectually to revive the enthusiasm of our younger days and cause us to run round the stage door in the hope of once more beholding so fair a 'genius of the lamps'. * 34 And in an epilogue to the evening of May 26, 1864, the ladies were again put under the spotlight: "But stay! The Ladies' praises must be sung. These Belles were surely meant to be well rung. There's Wiggins, Lizzie, Baby, only choose. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 201 + himself uncomfortable, with one of the nicest looking creatures for a wife imaginable. (...) Mr. BRUSHWOOD did the 'green eyed monster' admirably and the character suited him well—we mean of course artistically. By a skilful arrangement the warmth of a kiss was made to be followed by Cool as a Cucumber. Did the manager intend this to impart a deeper meaning than is conveyed on the face of the "play-bill"? We have an esteem for him and hope not: for although a kiss is, sometimes, but the prelude of a coolness that surpasses even that of a cucumber, we would not have Mr PROTEUS openly hint as much". This piece called forth all the powers of the manager himself, and so perfectly was the coolness of Mr. Plumper exhibited, whether as regards the criticism of Mr. Barkins' face or his sherry, that, had he stepped from the neighbouring ice-house directly upon the stage, he could not have looked cooler (this was a reference to the Commercial Hotel; see note 94) What a desirable companion he would make, we thought, for the hot weather, but Mr. Proteus must be so, indeed, in any weather. The playing was well sustained throughout and Mr. BRUSHWOOD did his best — and that was not a little — to fret and fume as ‘Old Barkins' — but we can scarcely say that he looked a heavy father" (the heavy father was one of the specialist roles in a stock company). A Conjugal Lesson was "decidedly the crowning piece of the evening and was performed with an amount of case and artistic ability which elicited loud and well merited applause". And as the critic had evidently taken a fancy to "Mrs. NESBIT” he continued that she “looked more fascinating and piquant than ever and quite won the hearts of the bachelor portion of the audience who were altogether at a loss to understand the bad taste of Mr. Lullaby who could stay away from such an attraction till three in the morning!” (NCH 28.3.1857). 23.4.1857 (Thur) T. TAYLOR: "Still Waters Run Deep" (1856) T: Comedy (3 acts) J.M. MORTON: “A Capital Match” (1852) T: Farce (1 act) C: Amateurs Th: N.N. (C — R: That other favourite of the reviewer, Peter PROTEUS, had resigned and so the evening had to do without him. In the introduction to his report, the "Man on the Bund" referred to the playbill which informed him "in capitals of vermillion that Still Waters Run Deep and of other matters besides in the like flaming manner”. About the piece he was not at all content: "Muddy waters, however, as well as still, they turned out to be. This piece is one of those incongruous mixtures of French novel morality and English domestic life, which is as offensive and preposterous, as it is ludicrous. London milliners may persist in imitating the extravagances of French crinoline and superabundant circumference: they dress up our wives and sisters until they have destroyed every graceful curve they may have and make them look like balloons endowed with feminine heads and shoulders; and with a growl we may submit to this perversion of taste and whim of fashion. But when our playwrights, in their dearth of invention, ransack the repertories of the minor Parisian theatres for something new, which they themselves cannot originate, and stumbling upon the old and stale subject of Parisian conjugal infidelity, try to fit it into English social life, especially that of the middle class, the attempt excites at once our scorn and laughter, and ought, like monstrous bandorgans and other nuisances, to be put a stop to". Small wonder then that in it "there was much good acting thrown away. Mr. CLAY performed, throughout, the part he had undertaken, admirably. His conception of his character was good and was given with fidelity and ability. It was just how a blunt, honest Englishman might have been expected to act when, by some extraordinary chance, his domestic privacy is invaded by such a frenchified monstrosity as Captain Hawkesley. Mr. ROLLER too did the lean and slippered Pantaloon most successfully. His ease of manner on the stage and finished... ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 360 of the Lineage, or his representatives, went to Ching-Lok Ancestral Hall for Hung-Yi. Each party took with them sets of paper clothing, fruit, tea, wine, yun-bou and a gong. I was told that the two officials Jau and Wong would be invited from the temple before the first five ritual representatives went to the Ling Wan Monastery. They departed for Ling-Wan Ji on a goods vehicle. A nun was there to meet them. The nun said that in the celebrations in the past they always heard the sound of the party's gong before the ritual representative's party arrived, this time the party was so quiet that she had no warning of their approach. (She had known that the jiu was to take place, though). A brief worship was conducted by the nun at the main altar. After that the paper clothing was burnt, and the ritual representatives made offerings of incense, tea, wine and a plate of vegetarian food. Then temporary spirit tablets of paper prepared in advance by the villagers for this occasion were each inserted into a piece of Chinese carrot and put on the altar table. There were a total of seven gods, including Gwaan-Dai, Fui-Sing, Choi-Baak-Sing-Gwan and Man-Cheung. Upon the suggestion of the nun, they added a temporary tablet for Gaam-jaai, a god to oversee observation of vegetarian diet. A concluding baai-san was accompanied by the villagers' gong and the nun's “chime”. Among the gods from Ling-Wan Ji, only Gwun-Yam was invited in the form of an image. Next the party went to the Pat Heung Temple. A woman of about 70 met them and the Kam Tin men explained that they were inviting the gods to see the opera and they would be brought back afterwards. The gods were Tin-Hau, Yeung-Hau, Gwun-Yam and Wa-Gwong. The woman instructed them to make an offering and burn yun-bou before they fetched the gods, which they did. Here they took no statue of the gods. Then they went to the Yuen Kong Temple. The ritual representatives had expected the presence of a temple keeper, probably for guidance. But none was to be found. Only Yeung-Hau and Bak-Dai were fetched, although the Kam Tin men made offerings of incense to the other gods of the temple too. After this the party went back to Kam Tin. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 364 They left the festival site, passing Tai Hong Wai and Ko Po, where those who took part were offered drinks. They next reached Ying Lung Wai, where they were met by the lion dance of the village, and treated to soft drinks. They first worshipped at the altar of the God of Earth and Grain of Ying Lung Wai, then the san-teng and the village gate. They proceeded to Tung Tau Tsuen, where they worshipped at the Tin-Hau Temple and then the Gwun-Yam Temple. No one came to meet them. But nearby two elderly ladies exchanged these remarks among themselves, "The two temples belong to Kam Tin fellows, they wanted to repair them, but Tung Tau Tsuen would not let them". They proceeded to the Old Market. First they worshipped at the market gate then at the Bak-Dai Temple, and then at the Daai-Wong Temple. Then they moved on to Nam Pin Wai, where they worshipped at the altar of the God of Earth and Grain, the san-teng and the village gate. A man in his fifties sitting under a tree cursed the Dangs when he saw the Ambulance which was in attendance in case anyone was overcome by the heat. He said, "Right. Let this Ambulance carry these Kam Tin fellows". At the nearby Sai Pin Wai they worshipped at an altar for the God of Earth and Grain. There was a reception. They proceeded to a Lam Yi-Hing Tong” inside Sai Pin Wai, and then the village gate and an altar of the God of Earth and Grain. The procession finished with the Old Market and the surrounding villages, and went on to Yuen Long New Market. When they reached Sau Fu Street, they were offered soft drinks by people who had come from Kam Tin for that purpose. From there they walked back to the festival site at Kam Tin. F. The Procession with the King of Ghosts The procession with the King of Ghosts took place during the evening before the Great Offering to Ghosts. In the first stage the Bak-Bin villagers carried the huge image of the Daai-Si Wong through their villages. Their Naam-Bin counterparts waited near Kam Hing Wai to take over the paper image for the second part of the procession. These were 22 young men, many carrying long bamboo poles with metal ends ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 373 Many Dangs attributed the deceased worshipped in their Altar for Heroes (Ying-Hung Chi) and those buried in the big grave known as yi-chung to the battle with the British in 1898. We found that the number of "heroes" for whom paper clothing were ordered for the jiu of 1955 is only 2 more than the 1895 figure, i.e. only two can be attributed to the 1898 incident. See also Law and Lau (1985) about this dispute. 19 According to this informant the Dangs married villagers of Lam Tsuen, Tai Hang, Sheung Shui and places like Sha Tau across the border. Other Tangs who discussed the point included Tuen Mun and Gak Tin, a place of the Wong surname, also known as Fuk Tin, across the border. 20 Another stone inscription dated 1786 recorded a similar case. Although it has been cited by many scholars as another rent dispute case that involved the Dangs of Kam Tin as the landlords, I cannot find any of Dangs whose names appear in the inscription in other documents. 21 In Kam Tin Historical Documents, vol. 2. 11 The original expression is that the villagers were the diding of the Dangs. Diding refers to tax on land and persons. 73 See also Kamm (1977:213-214) on other similar disputes. 24 See Cheng (n.d.). 25 Besides the formal names that appear in local documents and present-day road signs and maps, many of these villages had other names that were used in everyday conversation. 10 Formal names Kam Hing Wai Kat Hing Wai Pak Wai Tai Hong Wai Wing Lung Wai According to the jiu festival record of the year. "Nickname" Gaak Seui Yun Fui Sa Wai Laan Bak Wai Taan Wai Sa Laan Mei 27 Tanaka (1985:935-7), quoting A Gazetteer of Place Names in Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories, Hong Kong, pp. 172-173. The original expression was "Tai Hong Wai and Tsuen" and probably included only the part of Tai Hong Tsuen whose residents were considered Tai Hong Wai people. 20 Kam Tin Historical Documents vol. 2. 30 See the account dated 1966 in the Si Kim Tong genealogy. 31 According to a descendant of Fau-Ng. The genealogical relationships among the ancestors he gave may be wrong. 32 Ying Lung Wai is part of Shap Pat Heung, the group of villages which was involved in several disputes with the Kam Tin Tangs. It seems that the Ying Lung Wai Dangs join the Kam Tin Dangs only in the jiu festival and the worship at the Mau Ging Tong ancestral hall. I have not heard anything about its position in the disputes between Kam Tin and Shap Pat Heung. 33 Sung (1974:168) says Tai Hong Tsuen. This is my interpretation. 34 Ditto. 35 Siu-Geui, with his father and others, made a new stone inscription for the grave of the wong-gu in 1483. Kei-Fong's will is dated 1562. (See the genealogy in Kam Tin Historical Documents vol. 1 for both.) Kai-Wa was born in 1494 (See inside text of his spirit tablet, ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1990 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299 105 timed with their fuses set to burst just a few feet above water level. But the gunners evidently found the moving targets difficult to follow, because the aim grew wilder and eventually the shelling ceased. As the sun set in the west, the British ships came to anchor off the Three Hills, where I had my last pheasant shoot, while the American ships anchored in a group a few miles lower down. Next morning broke clear and sunny, one of those late autumn days in China, when there is not a ripple on the river, and the smoke hangs low in a thin pall over the country villages. Gun fire could be heard in the distance, both above and below the concentration of neutral vessels; and by-and-by the three American ships, escorted by the U.S.S. "Panay", got under way and steamed upriver. As she went by, the "Panay" stopped to pass back one of our wounded men, who had been kindly accommodated in her sick bay, and the Commander explained that he was taking his ships further up towards **Pidgeon Island** as the Japanese had been dropping some "bricks" in the river just below them. Not for the first, or the last, time in China, the Americans elected to play a lone hand. Meanwhile the refugees on the British vessels whiled away the time counting up the splinter holes in their ships, attending to the wounded, and in mutual visits for gossip over the events of the previous day. Every one thought it was all a mistake, although some concern was caused at about 10 o'clock, when a number of Japanese military landing craft were seen upriver pulling in to the north bank, on to which they ran a small gun which was openly trained at the ships. But the feeling of security was confirmed when the Japanese craft, one after the other, steamed out towards the British gunboats, circled round them, waved a salute or two, and then went on their way down river. There appeared to be no Chinese troops in the neighbourhood, and the Japanese sailed down the Yangtze unmolested, stopping to burn an occasional junk. It was without an after-thought that we all sat down to lunch on that lovely Sunday morning on the Yangtze. We were anchored off the reed beds which grow round Rosina Beacon, and through the porthole I could see across the river the clumps out of which not so many months before we had driven our last pheasant. Imagine our astonishment and indignation when suddenly we heard the approaching noise of planes, the roar of power dives, and bombs ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1990 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299 135 Police Station, and were allocated various districts to patrol. We worked in pairs. Sometimes a regular French policeman accompanied us, in addition to several Chinese constables of the French Police Force. We would walk along as the spirit moved us; and on arriving at a cross-roads would take up a position in the middle of the street, cock our pistols, and stop all cars to look inside them. The idea of this was to catch kidnappers, as they usually carried off their gagged victims by car. One day we stopped a large car, only to find the venerable Mr. Yu Ya Ching in it. He was the senior of the five Chinese representatives on the Municipal Council. I do not know who was the more astonished, he or we! On another occasion when we looked into a car we found a complete thuggery of Russian gunmen; there is a large White Russian community in Shanghai, a survival of the Russian revolution, and many of the men were engaged by rich Chinese as bodyguards. They looked ugly, as if they were more used to holding people up themselves than being held up. The next car turned out to contain the puppet Mayor of the Chinese Municipality, who durst not venture abroad without a heavy escort. All passed off with mutual compliments. In my time we fortunately never ran into a real gangster: I have difficulty in hitting a haystack even with a snug little weapon, let alone with so heavy a piece of ancient ironmongery. Until about 10 p.m. a heavy traffic would continue in the Avenue Joffre, the main highway on our beat. Sometimes, when we went out on bicycles, a form of sport to which I had been unaccustomed for at least a quarter of a century. I found it rather tricky moving in patrol formation amidst the traffic. If we came across an obstreperous drunk, we would turn tactfully in the opposite direction. It at least gave the Chinese some confidence to see armed foreign patrols out at night, a confidence which, I fear, may have been exaggerated. Sometimes we would stand at the corner of the street, at about the time the cinemas came out, and watch our families go home; and, when the time was up, we might go into that little bar on the ground floor of the Cathay Mansions for a bottle of "Ewo" Beer. At the police station the French Municipality provided sandwiches, crumbly French rolls split in half, buttered, and holding a slice of ham, which we would munch, while our leader made his report. Then early in the morning we would go home, feeling we had earned our sleep. The cinemas of Shanghai are as luxurious as any in the world. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1990 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299 151 a mark or two on my hand one morning, but they proved mere pimples arising from the heat. As regards the vegetation, I must say that although taken altogether the island is not so well supplied with vegetation as some parts of England, yet what there is, has been so judiciously taken care of, and propagated, that in a few years it will become well wooded, in all the habitable parts. No pains are spared in planting and rearing trees, and nature assists the efforts of man, by a rapid and luxuriant growth. But even now, all parts that are inhabited are surrounded by trees, the quantity and size depending only upon the time since the houses were built. There is the Asiatic pine, found through Central Asia to the Himalehs. The rocks and table lands in Hong Kong are well planted with it, making it look very like the Scotch pine or fir in England. The bamboo looks well, and its luxuriant and rapid growth, together with the graceful appearance of its foliage, has caused its prevalent use. The apple, pommaloc, laichis (Chinese plum), willow, oak, mulberry, appear the chief. There are several fine trees of which I can only get the Chinese name in our shrubbery. Nearly all the vegetable food comes from the mainland. It is tolerably reasonable in price. A fine pine-apple costs about —/4o. Plantains 1" to 2a a pound. In a few weeks fruit will be plentiful. Potatoes about 2a a pound. Rice ditto. Bread 5o per pound. Ginger grows fine here; and the green ginger preserved is delicious. There is a nice fruit, just out of season, called Wong-pay, and another whose name means “dragon's eyes" is not pleasant to my palate. Fish is very dear; a little fish for breakfast costs 5 or more. The town of Victoria is a long street running nearly parallel with the shore of the bay. Branching off from this street are the many hills, covered with English villas for a good way up. The eastern end of the town is mostly occupied by large merchants' offices, warehouses, etc....... and beyond are many fine English houses. The Chinese streets are very curious to a stranger. The Chinese shops are likewise interesting. Some however are in English style. An English shop is a different thing here to what it is in England, and more resembles a warehouse. There are, however, a few fine milliner's shops, hotels, dispensary, and club room. At the Eastern extremity are the Barracks, the parade ground, and market; and about a mile on, is a beautifully wooded hill, where the Colonial Chaplain, the Rev. J. Irwin, resides. Then passing through a ravine you open upon Happy Valley. A Chinese villa is quite a curiosity. Here and there you see one perched upon some eminence; but it does ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1990 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299 1.54 can take in vain. So they make up for it in everything that a corrupt heart can imagine. Mr Beach gave me the translation of a few of those expressions, which I might perchance hear from the servants, or even from pupils who have just entered college, and have not forgotten the language of home. But let me hear the least sound of it, and I will send them off about their business pretty quick. But it is surprising the alteration that takes place in Mrs Chinaman when she is under the influence of Christian teaching and religion. The alteration is greater generally in them than in the men. My headmaster is a married man; he was married a few months ago in the Cathedral and lives in the rooms under the Bp's Drawing and Dining Rooms! His wife, Mrs Hah-shoe, is quite a decent little body, and often toddles outside, and walks round the grounds at the back. She was trained up in a Christian family, and he was brought up by the Bp, whom he accompanied once to England. Popular opinion goes a great way with a Chinese. Rather than offend popular opinion, they will make any sacrifice. Only let a man get a bad name among the men, and then let him offend one of the women. The ladies know they may go any length with impunity, so they follow him, and mob him round the place, giving him every species of annoyance, and he dares not molest them for fear of his fellow men of the village and popular opinion. His only remedy in such a case is either to commit suicide, or to get off as far away as he can. Suicide among them is very common. There is a custom among them that if one of a family gets a good berth, all his relations come and live upon him. Poor Hah-shoe has all his relations living upon him, which is a great drawback; but popular opinion compels him to submit to it. A child is only looked upon as a servant who is to help support his parents and relations. Few among the lower classes ever think of saving money for old age. Popular opinion also makes them continue the pig-tail, although they say it is a religious affair, by which, when they pass over a narrow slippery plank upon entering the regions of the dead, if their wickedness has been so great as to make them likely to fall off, there is a kind friend who catches them by the pig-tail, and hoists them safe over on the other side. And now having treated of the Chinese, I will go on to describe the remainder of the population. The English are generally rich, proud, ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1990 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299 In the matter of the forcible stoppage of work, and the repeated closure of a worksite, a joint presentation of further evidence. We cordially request Your Benevolence to send an official to investigate and clarify the position to avoid the situation of a public bridge being destroyed. There is a river at Kim Hau (1) which lies between Sham Chun, and Sha Tau Kok and Tai Pang () and so on, and which is on a most important road for anyone travelling from east or west. Everyday thousands of people pass there. The Cheung () clan, living over three li away at Wong Pui Ling (Bai) came in violence and took it for their own, establishing a ferry across the river there for their profit. All this happened years ago. Everyone coming there, at any time of day, must use the ferry. Bridal parties and funerals have to pay particularly heavy sums. Every Winter the river dries up, and the flow of water reduces, and then people have to wade across with obvious difficulty. Sometimes wooden hand-rails are put up beside the crossing, but these are frequently destroyed, and people are reviled and struck there. Every kind of perverse and unprincipled behaviour can be seen, too frequently to record. These many years we the gentry and others have donated cash, and rice to sell at low rates. This is because, when they cannot run the ferry profitably they force the coolies to go into the water to cross; several dozen sacks of rice have been lost here as a result, and we the gentry and others cannot bear to see their suffering. We have been thinking of building a bridge for many years. Last year Cheung Tsan-tai and Lei Chung-chong (*44) both wealthy men, and others, twice gathered material for construction, but it was deliberately entirely destroyed on both occasions. The people really feared we would have to go back to the original position. --- Page 259 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1991 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/k356gt84j 166 to lend them cooking pots for their rice, or to provide the few vegetables that flavour the rice. They sometimes break into the houses and help themselves to what they need. It is a vicious circle difficult to control. Fortunately we could see a crack of light at the back of the building where we had last stayed and, when the occupants who were hiding inside heard who we were, they let us in; there was nothing too much they could do for our comfort. They told us that a large bridge some miles ahead, over a side stream which flowed into the Tsien Tang, was down and that we should be unable to get across. This sounded bad and I ordered a very early start. When we got to the bridge we found that a freshet after the heavy rain had weakened the wooden piers, and when a lorry overloaded with troops had gone over on the previous day, it had fallen through. A whole span had collapsed; soldiers were wading in the water searching for corpses and laying them along the bank. The bridge was high, the banks steep; it was obviously impossible for our lorry to get through. We returned to the village and 'phoned Chin Ya with a request that they would send a relief lorry down to meet us on the far side. We then set about unloading the lorry and ferrying our stores across in a small boat. When we had emptied the lorry the driver was ordered to take it back to Hunan; he was a man who had been lent us for the trip. He just got through before the road was cut. On the way through Yingtan and Shangjao we had passed many refugees; on old charcoal lorries, rickshaws, wheelbarrows, and even chairs, but mostly on foot, escaping from the advancing Japanese. We heard afterwards that the driver on the return trip found some refugees who were willing to pay heavily for the privilege of a lift on our lorry; he made a "squeeze" of $30,000. That is the sort of thing we were up against. In the afternoon a 'phone call came through to say that the relief lorry had reached within twenty kilometres of us, but had found another bridge down and had been unable to come further. By good chance we heard of a large junk, hiding in the Tsien Tang not far off our bridge in the hope of avoiding being commandeered. It was full of refugees who were escaping upriver from the Japanese. When we asked whether they would give us and our stores a passage for the next twenty kilometres they readily agreed; our presence would provide a sort of protection. I was careful not to explain too clearly the dangerous nature of our cargo. The Tsien Tang junks are long, rather narrow flat-bottomed boats, curved ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1991 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/k356gt84j 172 displaced by the Japanese advance on Shangjao. He also engaged some of the workmen from the Co-op. I was concerned not to have all our eggs in one basket, because I feared that should our efforts be too successful the Japanese would come and bomb us or send fifth column plain-clothes men to liquidate us. So we placed his workshop in another village. For raw material Reginald had the pieces of steel rail cut with explosives from our derelict line when practising with the students. From these he made all sorts of things. His chief output was knives, with which we had to equip all our students for cutting fuse, and other work. He also made screw-drivers, pliers, wire-cutters, crow-bars, and earth augers. The latter were heavy instruments with nine-inch cutting surfaces, that we used to cut holes in the earth. You could lay quite a good mine at the bottom of a six-foot deep nine-inch wide earth auger hole. The chief instrument for cratering was however the light camouflet set. This was a metal tube of 2" diameter and 6 feet long, which was sunk into the earth by means of a hammer head that slid up and down inside. When driven in its full length one pulled the tube out and dropped in a small camouflet charge of 4 oz. of explosive; that blew a chamber of about a foot diameter at the bottom of the hole, sufficiently large to take a charge of 50 lbs. Ammonal was the best explosive for this type of cratering. We would pour the grey powder down the hole, gently ramming it with a wooden rammer, until the whole fifty pounds was well packed at the bottom, together with a primer from which a length of detonating fuse led out to the surface. We would then tamp the whole to earth level with mud, also gently rammed down, lash the detonator and safety fuse assembly to the detonating fuse and set the thing off. One could thus produce a crater up to thirty feet in diameter. This type of demolition, useful for mining at the back of bridge abutments and destroying them, took too much time and the instruments were too heavy and conspicuous to appeal much to our students. Our second course finished in October, by which time we were beginning to run short of explosives and other supplies. Although the Japanese withdrawal from Shangjao had reopened communication with the rest of China, the destruction by the Chinese of all the motor roads to deny their use to the enemy, had prevented any further supplies reaching us. The first to come through were borne by junk and by coolie escorted by Jim, the missionary who had escaped from Shanghai, and who now rejoined us to help in administration. He brought us news of outside events. We learnt that it had been decided to wind up the main ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1992 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x 49 Despite the feeling we have acquired simply from his own writings that he had many acquaintances and few friends, that he was neither a European nor a Chinese and was held at arms length by both, that he was God's gift to the girls, that he offered guidance and good advice with great foresight to the Chinese, and was either ignored or his ideas purloined by others, the obituaries, possibly following a policy of avoiding speaking ill of the dead, described him as ‘a great traveller, a great scholar, a soldier, an author and publisher. A cheery man who most people knew, who at 77 walked briskly to and from his office, beloved by many, although not rich in the world's goods he was always ready to help others, and was of a very cheerful disposition. He endured many shrewd blows of fortune but always came up smiling.' He must have been regarded both in Shanghai and in Hankow as an eccentric and colourful old man. Everyone would know of him but to what extent he was accepted socially we shall probably never know unless, that is, someone's private correspondence in which he is mentioned comes to light. NOTES Mason was a young British official in the Chinese Customs on the Yangtze who organised the shipment of arms to and became involved with Nien rebels. Mesny, who knew nothing of Mason's schemes and plot, found himself officially ostracised after being accused by Li Hung-chang of being a rebel leader. It is strange that there appears to be no reference to the typhoon in the available Shanghai papers of the day. Also, in view of his complaints about people's refusal to face up to disaster by taking out insurance, why did he not have the Rink insured? Probably, considering his circumstances, he was unable to afford the premium. The Tsar-li Hui has been variously described as a minor religious cult, in Shantung province in particular, or as survivors of the White Lotus Society, an anti-dynastic body since its foundation in the fourteenth century through to its final defeat in Shansi in 1815. A number of members then joined the Nien revolt, and here we have a link perhaps between Li Hung-chang's accusation that Mesny was a leader of a Nien rebels during the Mason case. $ Mesny's Chinese Miscellany: Volume 2 item 1431 page 362 Bat'uru: 'A kind of Manchu Distinguished Service Order [DSO]' Johnston RF Lion and Dragon in Northern China. Murray: London 1910 William Mesny always referred to himself as 'Knight Ying of the Pa-t'u-lu' BA This decoration was intended to correspond to European Orders [sic]. Garrett, Valery M Mandarin Squares. Oxford University Press. Hong Kong. 1990 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1992 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x 166 descendents experimenting with the locations in the light of family events over that time, since anything untoward would be attributed to bad siting of the urn.* If, however, good fortune smiled on the family, it might then be decided to prepare a formal, horseshoe grave on that site, or perhaps on another equally auspicious or even better location. The services of a geomancer were obligatory on such occasions as few families would possess a member with the necessary skills. Thus, by the time a new grave appeared on a hillside, there had been a great amount of prior thought and activity among the responsible persons in the family, as well as considerable expenditure. Sometimes, this included paying those villagers living in the vicinity of the grave, persons with customary rights of grazing, and somebody to cut the grass around the grave occasionally. Some Typical Grave Inscriptions The following inscriptions on two old graves recorded from the Tsuen Wan District, with translations and comments, will indicate the care taken with burials, and the obvious importance attached to the process. The first is from a grave belonging to the Tang family of Kam Tin, New Territories. This inscription, dated 1853, has been chosen from among many others of the kind, because it exemplifies the strong family feeling that motivates descendents in regard to ancestral worship and their duties toward the living and the dead: Ancestor Wing-shing, alias ...-yue, alias Shan-fung, was the second son of Ancestor Kwan-leung. He was born in Chien Lung ping-san year (1736) and died in Chia Ch'ing kap-shut year (1814). By his wife, who was from the Man family, he had one son, Ying-yuen, a kui-yan of 1789. Ancestor Hin-sing, alias Kwing-yue, alias Kang-sham, was the only son of Ancestor Kwan-chak. These two gentlemen were grandsons of Ancestor Kwok-yın. [Hin-sing] was born in Chien Lung mou-san year 1748, and died in Chia Ch'ing san-mei year 1811. By his wife, who came from the Liu family, he had two sons. One, Ying-..., who held fu kung-sang degree had a [second] wife from the Man family, by whom he had two ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1992 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x 173 letter from the elders of the Tsang lineage of Kau Wah Keng, enclosing an embroidered banner of appreciation which they wished me to note and transmit to one of the land inspectors in the Office. Apparently, over a weekend some Tsang clansmen had discovered that a construction lorry had damaged some burial urns. An agitated call to this particular officer on the Sunday morning brought him quickly to the scene. He was able to contact the company responsible and make satisfactory arrangements for putting matters to rights." Such actions by the land staff greatly improved our relationships with villagers, and stood us all in good stead when land resumptions and village removals were necessary on account of development. Private Initiatives It should not be thought that villagers only took action when the government was involved, and with it the prospect of compensation. They would sometimes, on their own initiative, resite and re-bury remains in graves whose fung-shui was thought to be affected by the actions of other parties, or by government works that had not actually required a grave to be moved. A letter received from a villager of Muk Min Ha Village in 1971 stated: Many years ago, the government's need to construct more catchwaters led to construction works taking place near my ancestors' grave. As the work affected the grave's fung-shui, I exhumed the remains myself [and placed them in a burial urn]. They have not been reburied [in a formal grave] since then. I have now found a spot to my liking (meaning, with good fung-shui] between Yau Kam Tau and Ting Kau for the rebuilding of this ancestral grave, and would be grateful for permission to begin the work." Other Means of Averting Harm Sometimes, instead of moving graves - always an expensive business - villagers took other measures to contain the bad effects of altered fung-shui. I recall visiting an old grave with a village elder of the former Lan Nai Tong Village above Lei Muk Shu in Kwai Chung. The visit was at my request, and made in connection with their claims ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1993 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833t302 142 importance of an unexampled calamity. However in spite of difficulties in balancing the budget, many public works projects were completed during his term. He governed with a liberal-mind for he increased the number of unofficial seats in both the Legislative and the Executive Councils in response to a demand for reforming the government. He also agreed to have an unofficial majority on the Sanitary Board. Generally regarded as an able administrator he stayed for fully six years as Governor, the longest tenure held by any governor thus far. In the history of modern China, he would be remembered as the Governor of Hong Kong who imposed a five-year ban on Dr. Sun Yat Sen, who then went to London and was kidnapped but rescued by Sir James Cantlie but that is another story. Sir James Stewart Lockhart, the main target of Lowson's attack, was Registrar General and acting Colonial Secretary in 1894. There is a biography of him written by Shiona Airlie entitled 'The Thistle and the Bamboo.' He emerged from it as a capable but ambitious man who was eager to seek promotion ahead of his time, and in spite of what Lowson said of him, he got on well with the Chinese. The function of a Registrar General in the early years was to deal with Chinese affairs, not legal matters as at present, in fact, the initial title was Protector of the Chinese. In this office, Lockhart maintained good relations with the directors of Tung Wah Hospital and Po Leung Kuk and the District Watch Committee, the three main representative bodies of the Chinese community. As to his character, he was said to possess 'humoured geniality which endeared him to his contemporaries' but 'occasionally his patience snapped and from a man considered in the main to be warm-hearted and genial, he became angry and stubborn.' He made at least one important contribution in connection with the Epidemic. After the Resumption of Tai Ping Shan Ordinance was passed, action had to be taken to demolish the old houses. Both landlords and tenants put up a spirited resistance as they both had to suffer financial loss, no rent to be collected by the landlords for sometime and no cheap lodgings for the tenants who were mostly coolies. The coolies threatened to go on strike which would paralyse the city in already very difficult circumstances. Lockhart, who was fluent in Chinese, having been a cadet in the Hong Kong Civil Service, was instrumental in solving the dispute which ended amicably. In 1895, at the age of thirty seven, he became Colonial Secretary when his acting appointment was substantiated. In addition, he was appointed as Special Commissioner for the New Territories in 1897 after the lease was settled. In 1902, he went to Weihaiwei as its first Civil Commissioner. On his departure the ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1993 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833t302 155 to the front of the school building, to double the defences of the bridge, probably some time in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. 27 The building of the gun-towers, the school, the Man Mo Temple and Meeting Hall, and the communal grave, is evidence for the prosperity and vitality of the town, and the village society in which it was set, in the later nineteenth century. By 1904, the market had about doubled in size, and in the number of shops operating, from its situation fifty years earlier. From its foundation in 1830-1835, in fact, the prosperity of the town seems to have increased steadily until 1898, with the only check being the very temporary set-back of the Taiping attack. The Market and the New Frontier The leasing of the New Territories to Great Britain in 1898 was traumatic for the villagers of the Sha Tau Kok area. The line originally proposed for the new frontier would have run along the Sha Tau Kok River from source to sea. This would have put two of the eleven village alliance areas of the Shap Yeuk into China, the market and the other village alliance areas into the New Territories. This was unacceptable to the Chinese authorities, who were unwilling to allow so significant a place as Sha Tau Kok to become part of the area administered by Britain. Eventually it was agreed that the frontier should run along the Sha Tau Kok River from the source down to the Sha Tau Kok bridge, and then be diverted from the bridge down the centre of the bridge access road to the sluice at Yim Liu Ha, then in a straight line to the sea, and thence east along the high-water mark to the mouth of Mirs Bay.* This line was drawn very close to the northern and western edges of the market. As such it isolated the market from the rest of Chinese territory; its only access was either over the bridge, which was half in Hong Kong, or through Hong Kong territory, or by sea through Hong Kong waters. In the late nineteenth century, China controlled imports and exports through customs regulations, enforced by the Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs Service. By the drawing of the frontier where it eventually was, the normal, day-to-day trade of Sha Tau Kok market suddenly found itself * See Map 4. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1993 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833t302 156 becoming "import" or "export", and subject to all these controls. Villagers from Wo Hang or Nam Chung buying a new plough animal, or seed-pig, were "exporting live animals"; if they bought a new plough, or reaping knife, they were "exporting ironwork"; if they took cloth to market to be made into a pair of trousers, or to be dyed, then they were "importing cloth" - duty in all these cases had to be paid. Traditionally, sugar was grown in this area, carried as cane to Sham Chun, pressed and refined there, and then carried back for sale in the New Territories markets. This now became “importing sugar” in the first instance, and “exporting sugar" in the second.28 In the 1930s, the Chinese Government imposed a heavy import duty on fish, causing the very important carrying trade in fish from Sha Tau Kok to Sham Chun to face the same problems.29 As soon as the new frontier was established, the Kowloon Customs (the local division of the Imperial Maritime Customs) moved to control it. The Kowloon Customs was headquartered in Hong Kong, but established its new operational headquarters at Sham Chun. Below this, work was initially conducted through three Divisions: Duty Collection, Border Patrol, and Sea Patrol. The Border Patrol duties were conducted from Patrol Stations, which were arranged in Districts, with a Patrol District Headquarters in each District. Duty was collected at only a relatively few Duty Stations, which were the only places where dutiable imports and exports could legally be handled. The Kowloon Customs also had half a dozen steam launches as gun-boats: each had a Sea Patrol District to control, centred on a Sea Patrol District Headquarters. Sha Tau Kok was chosen as the Patrol District Headquarters for the Patrol District running from Lin Ma Hang to Siu Mui Sha (Xiaomeisha), with sub-stations at Yim Tin (Yantian) and Chan Hang (Chenkeng). It was the Duty Station for the north-west quadrant of Mirs Bay. It was also the Sea Patrol District Headquarters for the Mirs Bay Sea Patrol District. It was one of the centres of the Mounted Horse Patrols which, from 1932, patrolled the area behind the zone covered by the foot patrols of the Border Patrol staff. After 1934 it was one of the centres of the new Automobile Patrol, which patrolled the newly completed motor road along the frontier. The Customs Station at Sha Tau Kok was headed by an expatriate Assistant Superintendent of Customs. For most of the time, there were between 70 and 100 customs staff working in Sha Tau Kok.30 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1994 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g 122 the 49th Regiment (Hertfordshire Regiment consisting of 25 officers and 426 men) and a Sapper unit. The Force commander, Sir Hugh Gough accompanied the Left Column. The Centre Column under Lieutenant Colonel Montgomerie consisted of detachments of Royal Artillery and Madras Artillery, a Sapper unit and a rifle company of the 35th Madras Native Infantry. The Right Column, under Colonel Schoedde, consisted of the 26th Regiment (The Cameronians) under Lieutenant Colonel Pratt, the 55th Regiment (Westmorland Regiment) and a unit of Sappers. 6 The British plan required the 2,200 troops to be landed on the right flank, on the west face of the line of low-lying hills some two miles to the east of Chapu Bay. From there the three battalions would separate, one, the Centre Column, to hold the base, one, the Right Column, to pass round the base of Huang-p'an Shan to cut off the Chinese retreat and the third, the Point or Left Column, to storm the heights of Kuan Yin Shan. On 16 May the Nemesis and the Phlegethon reconnoitred the northern coast of the Bay of Hangchou and on the 18th they landed in a bay some two miles east of the city without opposition, with the Left Column advancing along the heights parallel to the coast, whilst the rest moved inland to the rear of the heights on which the enemy was posted. Elements of the British Naval Brigade, consisting of some 700 men, landed within a quarter of a mile of the harbour and advanced straight for the harbour battery and then on to the town itself. Only about one in ten of the Chinese force had firearms, the rest being armed with bows and spears. The British plan so took the Chinese by surprise that they fell back in disorder, throwing away their arms and fleeing in every direction. The Chinese having made their nominal stand in the hills had left their rear wide open allowing Chapu to be taken without any major problems. After a battle lasting more than four hours, Chapu was taken by the Right Column and the Naval Brigade with the British casualties of nine killed and fifty-five wounded. Of these, in addition to Colonel Tomlinson, the loss to the Royal Irish were one serjeant and three other ranks killed, and Lieutenants E. Jodrell and A. Murray, one serjeant, one drummer and twenty-seven other ranks wounded. Major Jeremiah Cowper was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel on the day following the battle, in succession to Colonel Tomlinson. The Chinese defenders fled to the west, towards Hangchou leaving the British with the town which was promptly looted by the native Chinese. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1994 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g 125 calling the Chinese "disloyalists", the Fukien braves sided with the enemy and set fire to the town. The foreigners then got over the wall and burnt the Manchu quarter, the Assistant Tatar-General and the acting Sub-Prefect losing their lives, and the taotai escaping to Kashing. The Magistrate Wei Feng-chia led a body of militia to oppose the British advance on the town and was killed, and whilst Heng Hsing, the Chinese Force commander at Hangchou was cashiered, the Chinese commander at Chapu, Chang Hsi, escaped death and capture but was later, posthumously, accused of having run away. The official toll of Chinese casualties including civilian casualties was said to exceed 1300. This figure includes more than 400 officers and men from the Green Standard force and 280 Manchu Bannermen. When I-li-pu "arrived at Chapu, the English demands, so the Chinese version continues, were so extravagant that nothing definite could be arrived at; and, when the Governor requested the Emperor's sanction to the restoration of the score or two of white and black barbarian prisoners, the foreign ships had left Chapu. The prisoners were then sent to Chen-hai, and it was suggested that bygones should be bygones; but the English would not listen any more. The idea of an attack on Hangchou itself by the British forces was now abandoned and attention was directed to the important trade centre of Shanghai. The British, having destroyed the Chinese arsenal, guns and all Chinese government stores in Chapu, released all their prisoners of war cash with a small present, and then on the 28th May embarked for the Yangtze and Woosung, the town at the mouth of the river leading to Shanghai. The transports took fifteen days to cover the hundred miles to Woosung which was bombarded and captured by naval forces. The war ended two months later before the walls of Nanking, The 18th Royal Irish was disbanded in 1922 and amongst its many battle honours was 'China 1840-42'. The men of the regiment who took part in the campaign were eligible for the medal awarded for the 'China War' though, regrettably, there was no bar for Chapu. In March 1994 my daughter and I tried to find the site of the joss house. Enquiries in the town of Chapu itself were received with polite replies that no such place existed and that there were no temples now near Chapu, this despite the fact that standing less than thirty yards from the ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1995 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/95941j25g 說 番人亦有 如此之分 番如稔失 印則 但更俱 有三等之介 Bitt m FE E***S 129 Fig. 5. Tong explains the pidgin form of comparison of adjectives That is as far as we want to go in discussing the structure of Pidgin. As a last topic, however, we want to say something about the etymology of Pidgin. Over the years, a lot of effort has gone into tracing the history of certain Pidgin words, especially where the words have entered standard English. The mass of fresh material in Tong's book lets us throw a little new light, although we have to admit that, as with most attempts at etymology, a lot of guesswork is involved. Tong cites very many words derived from English, in which all syllables are represented quite fully, given the limitations of the language. To say, then, that the word "pidgin" itself originated just because that was the nearest that Chinese could get to pronouncing "business" is hard to accept. The same people who could say “di-fa-loen-si" could presumably have said “bi-si-nei-st", had they been so inclined. Our examination of the vocabulary in Tong brings us to believe that at the earliest stage there was a core of words derived not directly from English but from a variety of Portuguese, Malay, and English. These were then added to with a gradually more extensive vocabulary. We consider that the following should be included in the early layer: bi-jin, kam-sha, de-lam, se-lam, but-lam, si-bui-lum, gi-lam, go-lam, ma-si-gi, gou-dang, ka-gou, tik-gı, get-ji, dim, gat-ji, dim, waan-sam, jaau-jaau, chin-chin, jo-si, hu-man, mai, ma-sa, ma-jin, mat-sa, jap-jap, gu-lei, mun-ni, bai, sa-bi ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1995 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/95941j25g 159 mangrove areas (See Irving & Morton, 1988). If we choose as our example the Mai Po Marshes in Deep Bay we see that the mangroves, and the mudflats in front of them, support a unique flora and fauna (Morton & Morton 1983) and, together with the tidally operated shrimp ponds (geiwais), have been exploited by man for commercial gain for many centuries. It is the mangrove litter which supports all of these activities. The geiwais are perhaps the best example of commercial use and at Mai Po yield 1500-4000 kg of fish (mainly Tilapia) and shrimps (Gei Wai Ha) per pond per annum. The mangrove stands also serve as the nursery ground for both shrimp and fish fry, which again accumulate there because of the abundance of food. The fish fingerlings of grey and other mullets are netted by local fishermen and then raised in nearby ponds for about one year when they reach marketable size. Farmers also cultivate oysters in this area, the oysters filter feeding on very fine organic detritus and plankton, based again on mangrove productivity (the total Deep Bay oyster crop is some 250 tonnes per annum). Many oyster farmers also trap mudskippers in woven bamboo baskets and, again, these fish are very dependent on mangrove productivity for their survival. To the farmers living on the shores of Deep Bay the mangroves also offer a source of firewood and other useful products. Thus, the tallest Kandelia provide timber, fishing stakes, firewood and charcoal, and from the bark can be obtained various tannins; Acanthus fruits are used medicinally as a blood purifier and boil dressing while their leaves are used to cure rheumatism and their dried roots are used in the treatment of hepatitis, cancer and asthma; Avicennia seeds yield a resin used to treat ulcers and tumours, and an infusion of the bark is a medicine against parasites and a balm for gangrenous wounds; Excoecaria sap is used as a purgative, and finally Derris roots contain rotenone, a powerful fish poison, used in fish culture to harvest the fish. The modern availability of fuel resources and other materials and of western medicine has led to a decrease in utilization of mangroves for these purposes. Now their major value lies in their role in ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1995 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/95941j25g 160 maintaining high productivity as outlined previously. However, the mangroves are also very important as mud stabilizers. As the pioneers grow out onto the mud, the band of vegetation becomes broader and the rear becomes drier. Eventually new land is created, which can be used for agricultural purposes. They also play a role as an important protective barrier against destructive storm waves, thus reducing the risk of flooding. Man's impact on the mangrove The most significant impact by man has been the drainage and reclamation of the mangroves to provide sites for settlement and agriculture. This century alone about 1700 hectares of mangroves have been converted into deep fish ponds and vegetable growing areas and many of these, more recently, have been converted into container storage facilities and other industrial purposes. Many of Hong Kong's mangrove stands have already been totally destroyed; Mai Po's mangroves still survive to give an impression of what Deep Bay, indeed much of Hong Kong's shoreline would have looked like because they have been protected since 1976 as a Site of Special Scientific Interest. The effects of deep fish pond development, vegetable gardening, industrial usage and new town development can all now be seen in the Deep Bay area. The likelihood of further major reclamation of Deep Bay for urban expansion poses new threats to the ecology of this mangrove area and to the life which it supports (Irving & Morton, 1988). However, at present, the biggest threat is pollution. The many streams and rivers that drain into Deep Bay carry an enormous load of agricultural, domestic and industrial waste. Increasing pollution loads have already been reflected in a changed use of the ponds in recent years. A marked decrease in shrimp harvest has led to the conversion of some gei wais and mangrove areas to freshwater ponds to protect them from marine pollution. If this trend continues, then extreme changes will result as more and more of the mangrove areas are turned into deep ponds and, as pollution has a greater effect on mudflat productivity, the whole area will eventually lose the ecological value which it now has as a multifaceted series of habitats supporting an enormous variety of flora and fauna. In particular, it will cease to be a ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1996 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641 124 I am not sure if any link exists with some belief that descendants of those imitated in Mao Shan magic will have physical imperfection. The villagers of Lin Au are of Zheng and Li surnames. According to Mi Li Fu'an, in his mid-60s, the Zhengs had two ancestral hails there. One represents the lineage which moved from Shing Moon, and the other, the one which celebrated the Fengchao, was from Luoding. Li said the latter never had a genealogy, and are not genealogically related to the other Zhengs. According to Li, both the Zhengs and the Lis have lived in Lin Au for nine generations. The only Zheng of the lineage from Luoding now living in the village is a young man who did not know about the practice, and others have emigrated to Germany and other foreign countries. The other Zhengs used to witness the rite and Li said the groom was to carry an incense burner (being in bat) until dawn, probably the end of the rite. Li also learned from the other Zhengs that a groom can have the rite performed only if his father did so, and usually the first and last sons of a man have the rite performed. In my recent visit to Cheng Tau, Ha Hang and Shan Tau Kok, I have found little about those villages. Ha Hang, whose villagers are probably all of the Li surname, have two ancestral halls. Shan Tau Kok is a multi-surname village where the Zhengs form a separate cluster of houses which include an ancestral hall. The contents of the document is in one of the priest's manuals. I do not have a copy and did not write down anything when he showed it to me because I thought I would be able to make a copy of the manual afterwards. This document may be the "white [ordination] certificate" mentioned by Guangdong Xinyu and the gazetteer mentioned above. In my recording of the rite of Fengchao, a series of ordination names were recited during one session. I have to check if those are ordination names of the priest's ancestors or those of the client's. * The genealogy bears the title of Chenst Yuanlia Zupa, included in the British Library's Baker collection of genealogies of the New Territories, but is referred to in some lists as the Genealogy of the Chens of Ting Kok and Ping Yeung. Ordination names are found first in the 87th generation of the first section, among some brothers and cousins who moved to Fujian and Guangdong provinces. The following helps to date the 87th generation. A son of a brother of the 79th generation ancestor obtained a jiren degree in the year 889. Some brothers of the 84th generation ancestors moved "during the disorder [caused by the invasion of?] the Yuan". The 89th generation ancestor is a jinshi of Yuan dynasty. I fail to see how the "Founding Ancestor of Fujian" Jingwang in the second section of the genealogy relates to ancestors in the first section. A third section of the genealogy named the same Jingwang (ordination name Nian Yi(1) Lang) as the "Founding Ancestor of Changle" county, who was a descendant of a 83rd generation ancestor and a 86th generation ancestor, the latter being a brother of an ancestor in the earlier section. Jingwang's sons also had ordination names. According to a preface dated 1618, Jingwang moved to Changle some 200 years before then, i.e., around 1400. An 8th generation ancestor in the 3rd section moved to Ding'an of Xin'an county, probably Ting Kok in the New Territories. A 4th section of the genealogy started with Gulong as a second generation ancestor of Changle, who, according to a note before the section, was the third son of Jingwang, the Founding Ancestor of Changle, although Guilong's name does not match any of those of the sons of Jingwang in the previous section. Some of Guilong's 9th generation descendants moved to Ping Yeung of the New Territories. No ordination names are found in this 4th section. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1996 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641 134 journey, and paid him 10 cash each for them, and then we came to the boat. It was no easy thing to get on board, and as it was my first attempt at a Chinese craft, I was quite disgusted with the affair. After being on deck for a while, I found the two cabins which 5 men were to occupy. Each cabin was about the size of a chest of drawers, and cockroaches and smaller vermin revelled among the dirt. However, there was no help for it. Lechler, who has lived as a Chinaman and previously worn a tail for 10 years, took it all as a matter of course, and seemed quite at his ease. These boats are about 50 feet long, with the stern very high out of the water, and the bow very low. There is one principal mast and sail, which does all the work. In a minute the sail can be hoisted, and in 10 seconds can be lowered. Clumsy as it all is, it is surprising what good sailors Chinamen are. There is no danger if they are left to themselves. They can tack in less than no time. The "shut kung" calls out "chun shun" and the great sail sweeps round across the deck in a trice. All who are on deck must instantly stoop very low, or they will find themselves lying sprawling on the lee side. The arrangements being made we started off in company with 8 other boats belonging to the same firm. Our ship was the chief one, and was named the "Shoon-lay" or "good profit"; all of them had names meaning gain and profit (all the Chinamen ever think about). We got out of the harbour by the use of the two immense oars or sweeps at the stern, which move the ship along tolerably fast. Then when we were clear of the harbour, we made for "pirates bay". The weather was delightful; the sea was very clear; and we went on charmingly with a brisk breeze. Hong Kong at a distance is certainly a fine place. The immense Peak behind the town is a grand spectacle, and the fast increasing colony, with its fine houses on the hillside are beautiful to look at, especially on a clear day, in the sunshine. We had no end of fun among ourselves, and kept a continual fire of jokes at Stringer's dog, which was condemned to be eaten on the voyage. I gave it to a Chinaman and told him to kill it and eat it; much to Stringer's dislike and our amusement. We were each armed with a revolver, and each had a stick or something else in case of need; we had, moreover, two double-barrelled guns, with which we now and then let fly at the wild ducks. At three ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1996 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641 136 We coasted along, and could only move by using the sweeps behind, and the six oars in front. Capt Drummond and I took each an oar, and had a long pull. Just before we entered "Deep water Bay" we found the tide had turned and the current was dead against us. So we came to anchor, and the other accompanying ships did the same, all near each other, for fear of pirates. When the anchor is cast the boy who attends to the Religious ceremonies, ascends the poop with a roll of paper which he lights and waves to and fro and then throws overboard. Then the gongs began to ring at a fine rate, to frighten away the evil spirits, and at last the shouts of the men gradually died away in the stillness of the night; and only an occasional shout was heard from the distant shore from the huts of the fishermen, who were boiling their nets in very large coppers. We had previously taken tea, and Mr Lechler had addressed the passengers in the hold: and then, it being late we prepared to turn in for the night. We had our evening devotion, and as we knelt on the deck in the moonlight, and listened to the voice of prayer, breaking the stillness of the waters, in the sight and hearing of the heathen around us, I felt a sensation which words cannot describe. Then as we rose and sang "From all that dwell below the skies," there was something so soothing, so comforting in the music, that as the last notes died away in the distance, and all was calm and still, I felt transfixed to the spot. "Music hath charms to soothe the savage beast," and never did I feel its power more than on this occasion. Messrs Irwin and Drummond slept on the deck, while I tried to sleep down below in the small box, with Lechler. But sleep I could not. A tooth began to ache, and gradually increased to such an extent that at 1 o'clock I got up, and went round to the man on the watch and all the Chinamen I could find, to beg a morsel of tobacco to put into it. At last one fellow gave me a piece, which though it did not prevent the pain, yet gave me so much relief that I got nearly an hour's sleep. At 3 o'clock the tide turned and we again got under weigh, after which there was no more sleep for me. The night before, I was up till after two o'clock writing for the Bishop: so that I was quite worn out. The wind was against us, what little there was, and so we had to scull and row all the way. At daylight we were entering the river, and after a good wash, and breakfast, we were ready for action. The men ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1997 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/wp98g7579 76 1 right, government officials and village representatives have powers to grant or block the application In this essay, my study of the Pang villagers in Hong Kong's Fanling shows how their building rights have been re-defined to have their applications granted Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities Reflection on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism (Revised Edition), London: Verso 1991 It is called small house in government's terms under the 1972 Small House Policy See Hugh Baker, A Chinese Lineage Village, p. 154, Stanford: Stanford University Press 1968, Allen Chun, Land is to Live: A Study of the Tsu in a Hakka Chinese Village, New Territories, Hong Kong (unpublished PhD thesis, University of Chicago 1985), pp. 249-250, H. Nelson, "The Chinese Descent System and the Occupancy Level of Village Houses", p. 117, Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. 9 (1969) pp. 113-121, James Watson, Emigration and the Chinese Lineage: The Mans in Hong Kong and London, p. 160, Berkeley: University of California Press 1975, and Rubie Watson, Inequality among Brothers: Class and Kinship in South China, pp. 106-110, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1985 The data presented in this essay was collected during my fieldwork in Fanling Wai from the end of 1993 to early 1995 4 T # Pang Beng Fu (Ed.), Bao An Xing Fen Ling Xiang Peng Shi Zu Pu (The Genealogy of Surname of the Pang in Bao An Province), 1989 Ibid, p. 59. At the end of the summer of 1950, approximately 700,000 Chinese arrived at Hong Kong as a result of the political unrest in China in 1949 Szczepanik estimates that the population of Hong Kong in 1954 was about two millions But there was yet another influx of an estimated 140,000 immigrants from China during 1955-56 See Edward Szczepanik, The Economic Growth of Hong Kong, pp. 25-27 London: Oxford University Press 1958 As Jones reveals, by 1981, more than one quarter of Hong Kong's near five million population are living in the new towns such as Tsuen Wan, Shatin and Tuen Mun See Catherine Jones, Promoting Prosperity: The Hong Kong Way of Social Policy, p. 242 Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press 1990 See Catherine Jones, op cit, Fong, Peter, K.W., "Housing for Millions: The Challenge Ahead", in Joseph Y.S. Cheng and Sonny S.H. Lo (Eds), From Colony to SAR: The Hong Kong's Challenge Ahead Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press 1996 10 There are two lineage-based religious activities held in Fanling Wai They are Hong chao rite and Da jiao festival Hong chao rite is held annually by the Pangs in the name of the Fanling Pang lineage to placate deities in exchange for their protection of villagers' well-being (see Au Tat-yan and Cheung Sui-wai, "The Hung Chin Ceremony in Fanling" [Chinese], in South China Studies Vol. 1 (1994) pp. 24-39). Da jiao festival basically fulfills the same function of the Hong chao rite, but is held at ten-year intervals Through this elaborated and expensive five-day-four-night exorcising rite, the Pangs believe that their ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1998 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794 24 'Eat or don't eat!' John Moloney, the British comedian, found that playing to a Chinese (partly westernised) audience in Hong Kong required less of a cultural leap than when he took his act to Beijing (Syrett, 1995:4). The itinerant comedian, in fact, soon learns to steer clear of anything remotely embarrassing or linguistically complicated and to resort to the 'language of action.' This is universal and capable of bringing about smiles and even belly laughs. While all people, no matter the culture, are said to cry at similar incidents, people in London, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Beijing, or wherever, may not always laugh at the same jokes. In the same way, people in the West and people in China may not always see insults in the same light. For example, Jimmy Lai, the owner of Apple Daily, in the run-up to the 1997 Handover in Hong Kong, called a senior China official a 'turtle's egg,' meaning more or less 'unnatural birth.' Although not too unpleasant, it caused a furore. Yet, as an American Old-China Hand commented to the author, 'Who would get worked up over name-calling like that?' The last British Governor, Chris Patten, took it as a joke when he was described in catch-phrases by the Beijing Government as 'a serpent' and being 'disgraced in history for a millennium.' In fact, Patten quoted with relish his sobriquet of 'Whore of the East.' Most Britons also saw such 'insults' in much the same light as Patten, and as being faintly despicable, with the rhetoric unworthy of 5,000 years of continuous civilisation (Waters, 1995:168). In the same way that Chinese and Westerners may see insults differently, so they often see humour differently. A Hong Kong Chinese, of Shanghainese stock, said to the author, 'I'll tell you a typical English joke which the average Chinese cannot really appreciate. 'A publican and a customer were talking in a bar (E) when in came another man. He walked up the wall, walked upside down across the ceiling, and then down the wall the other side. He ordered a pint of beer, which he promptly quaffed. He then walked up the wall, across the ceiling, down the wall the other side, and out of the pub door. "That's ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1998 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794 25 strange," said the customer who was left standing at the bar. "Yes," said the publican. "Wonder what's happened? Previously, he only drank lemonade!”” When the author has told this joke Westerners generally think it funny partly because it is so ridiculous, but also because it is just about impossible. But most Chinese, unless very westernised, have been unable to appreciate it. To Westerners, it tends to be not just 'funny ha ha' but also 'funny peculiar.' Chinese tend not to be able to visualise easily the bar scene. Indeed if one uses the word 'pub' and 'publican' many Hong Kong Chinese might not be too clear what you mean. They are not common Hong Kong words. Harking back to what was written at the start of this paper, Bloom (Wu, undated; 3) contended that language inevitably affects the thinking processes of people. Another comment made by a professor of comparative Chinese/English linguistics at Taiwan National University was: 'You know, English has a whole complex of ways of talking, and hence thinking, on an abstract, theoretical level, which Chinese doesn't have (Bloom, 1981; 35). We speak and think more directly.' Similar comments have also been not infrequently heard by others who appear qualified to judge. If thinking is indeed affected in this way then speech must also affect senses of humour. Lifestyle is important and many Chinese jokes are centred around the circular, Chinese banquet table. That is part of their everyday life and they can easily picture the situation. There a man turns his glass upside down and rubs his finger around the bottom. When asked why he was doing that he replied, it was to make the glass shorter. 'But why make it smaller?' he was questioned. "They give us so little to drink here,' came the answer, 'there is no need to have such a big glass!' Some argue that Chinese do not generally see the funny side of the joke about walking up the pub wall because Asians tend to see things in complex, contextual, all-embracing ways (Waters, 1991; 35). With Chinese landscape painting more attention is paid to the overall ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1998 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794 deacon Gray35 finds shops in Canton still producing bows and arrows in the late 1860s showing that they continued to be used. This retention of the bow was probably also due to a feeling that it was a gentleman's weapon and more honourable to use. Indeed, proficiency with the bow was one of the attributes required of a military mandarin. Whilst such weapons as the matchlock and bow could be effective, they did not generally cause many casualties. This may have been due to lack of deliberate aim, although none of the projectile weapons, either side, were very accurate. The tactic used by the Europeans to overcome this was the use of volley firing. Then, even with the inherent inaccuracy, there was a fair chance that enough bullets would find their mark. Of course steady troops that could reload and fire almost continuous volleys, and only charge when ordered, were a necessary part of the tactic. As mentioned in the introduction, it is this training and disciplined use of troops, that the Chinese forces seemed to have neglected. The cut and thrust weapons were also varied and covered a wide range of spears, pole arms and swords. As might be expected, when it came to hand to hand fighting these were the equal to the bayonet, although again the training and discipline of the European troops would have been an advantage. Finally the Chinese had a number of arms that almost defy classification. These were used in defending forts against storming parties. There was a form of grenade, made of clay filled with combustible material, and a similar weapon that relied more on its bad smell than its explosive power.* And Lt. Colonel Fisher reports that at one fort they found: "Their construction was as follows:- A pit was dug in the ground, and in it was placed large iron shells loaded with powder; a match communicated between the shell and a flint-gun lock, which it was intended to fire, by a string attached to the trigger, and crossing the pit-fall. Over the whole, was laid a mat lightly strewed with earth. The modus operandi was, that on entering the fort, we should run over the mat, which would let us down; falling on the string, we should pull the trigger, and be blown up."38 It appears that the land mine has to be added to the list of ancient Chinese inventions, even if it is not one to be proud of. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1998 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794 177 self and appeared back home, having lost his lucrative post, where he bore the full fury of his wife as she had been enjoying the perks of the wife of a high official. He explained that he had no intention of returning to the palace as the fortunes of the evil Zhou Xin had a further twenty years to run, and went off spending his days fishing. Many years later the father of the future victorious King Wu heard a fisherman singing and learning that the song foretold the future fall of the Shang and the victory of the Zhou he went in search of the man who had taught the fisherman the song. This turned out to be Jiang who was then encouraged to return to the court of Duke Fa, where after Duke Fa's victory he was made the Prime Minister. In the Fengshen Yanyi he was then despatched to the mystic mountains of the West, the Kunlun Shan, where he was to seek from the great deity, Yuanshi Tianjun, the Primordial Heavenly Lord, honours for the loyal ministers, brave warriors, and all the good and bad immortals, male and female, who had died during the struggle. Jiang arrived at the Palace on the Kunlun mountains and was admitted by the White Crane Youth, Bai Hao who escorted him to meet Yuanshi Tianjun. After Jiang knelt and made his plea the Primordial Heavenly Lord promised to send a decree, which would authorise the canonisation of all the warriors, and name each in turn. Jiang returned to report to King Wu, followed a few days later by the White Crane Youth who descended amidst soft music and fragrance to deliver the decree. Jiang then ordered the Terrace to be prepared and soldiers to guard it whilst he purified himself. He entered the Terrace and after unrolling the decree read aloud the order which promised that those to be deified should be free from transmigration, and would be promoted or demoted according to their merits. He ordered that they should be worshipped by the people as protectors of the nation and its people, and they were to regulate the wind, rain and natural forces for the benefit of the people. They were authorised to reward good deeds and punish the wicked. The list of names of those deified was then hung up and the ministers and warriors ordered to approach in a lengthy queue with no one being permitted to leave it. The first to be called was Bai Jian, who was created the God of Pure Blessedness. He was followed one by one until all 365 warriors and worthies had been rewarded. Not all were straightforward. Some had followed the evil King during the struggle and had perpetrated wicked acts but had eventually recanted and had tried to make ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1998 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794 243 one so pretty!" said my friend. "That's dear," I remarked. "Two shillings," she repeated flatly. "You can't be from here, because you're too white. Where are you from? What's your name?" probed P., trying to move nearer to her. "I'm from Macau; my name is Etola," she answered in English, slurring over a few syllables as is the Chinese habit. "Two shillings," she added later, after a pause. "How pretty you are!" continued my companion. "Show me your hand, tell me how old you are. Who do you like better: us, the English or the Chinese?" "Two shillings," She replied. We drew up to the frigate; my companion took her hand, while I was already on the ship's ladder. "Talk to me, Etola," he said to her, holding her hand. She remained silent. "Tell me what you..." "Two shillings," she repeated. I with a laugh, and he with a sigh, paid the money and went to our separate cabins. Here, as in England and in the Cape, we were granted free entry into the club. The club is a type of superlative palace: its founders have spared no expense, to impart to the club the same opulence that is customary in London clubs. A number of big halls with windows facing the bay, a verandah, fireplaces, windows set in marble; bronze and crystal everywhere; excellent mirrors, elegant furniture - everything brought from England. But - alas! The halls remain empty; you'll have trouble attracting the attention of a sleepy Chinese man-servant, and then you'll order dinner and pay three times what it costs right nearby, in the tavern. The club is close to bankruptcy. The Europeans sit in their own corners for the greater part of the day, and in the evening prefer to gather in family circles - and so the club fails. But what a delight it is to relax on that verandah in the early evening, when the cool night air takes the place of the intense heat. At six o'clock in the evening the whole population pours out of doors, along the seashore, along the avenue. Officers on foot and on horseback, business men, ladies make their appearance. On a meadow, near the Governor's house, music is playing. Not far from there, on a hill, in a stone house, lives the General commanding the local detachment, and right nearby a building, something like a monastery, houses an Italian bishop with a few monks. Our people left for Canton, at which time I was lying in a fever and half sleeping heard the launch being lowered. I was awakened by a crash of thunder; a storm had erupted just at the moment of their leaving. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1999 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x 61 See) Hong Kong 1987, WW#ENS "明 (*1##AB) (Forts and Batteries Coastal Defence in Quangdong during the Ming and Qing Dynasties), Urban Council, Hong Kong, 1997, A Lui Yuen ching Forts and Pirates A History of Hong Kong, Hong Kong History Society, Hong Kong, 1990, p 29 5 On the foundation of Po Kong, see Jen Yu wen, "The Southern Sung Stone-Engraving at North Fu Tamg" Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Hong Kong Branch, Vol 5, 1965, pp 65-68 The founder was the great grandfather of a significant local leader in the Kowloon area in 1274, the man responsible for managing the rebuilding of the Tin Hau Temple in Joss House Bay in that year Given his local standing, it is likely that this man was in his 50s or 60s in 1274 This being so, his great-grandfather was probably born in the period 1120-1140, and a foundation date for Po Kong in the 1160s would therefore seem very likely E 6 On this incident see Jen Yu wen, "The Travelling Palace of Southern Sung in Kowloon" Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Hong Kong Branch, Vol 7, 1967 pp 21-38, Jen Yu-wen, ed , Hong Kong, 1960, , Hong Kong, 1959, #M, (R), op cit, Chapter 4, 蕭國健,“香港王廟奉[楊大王]”in <香港前代史論集> ed 國健 and 大厅, Taipei, 1985 7 Jen Yu wen, "The Travelling Palace of Southern Sung", op cit p 33 8 * The young princess was drowned at sea, and the body was lost the grave had buried in it, to represent the deceased, a golden figurine the grave was known locally as the 'Grave of the Golden Maiden' ፡፡ "Some scholars doubt this ascription (for instance, in his "FAI PREFLEX", op cit) but the identification seems certain to me The identification was first made by the eminent late Ching scholar, Chan Pak-to (B) in a tablet he placed in the Hau Wong Temple, Kowloon City, in 1917 (the text is to be found in 科大,陸鴻基,吳倫霞<香港碑銘彙編> (D Faure, B Luk, A Ng, The Historical Inscriptions of Hong Kong), Hong Kong, Urban Council, 1986, Vol 2, pp 446-449) I find the reasons given by Chan Pak-to and Jen Yu wen (loc cit) on this very compelling 10 In 1846, as shown by the drawing of that date by Lt Collinson, the market comprised just the one main street, and the pier had not yet then been built The ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2000 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/nk328168n 26 from the hill, in the town. In that particular place on the Chinese provincial railroad construction, Han Suyin's baby elder brother, Gabriel (Sea Orchid), died simply because he was Eurasian. The French doctor working for the Belgian railroad-building company was engaged basically to look after the European employees' and their families' health, and these patients could see him at any time in his house on the hilltop. For Chinese and Eurasians he was available exclusively in his morning clinic, not meant for Europeans. Sea Orchid was most unlucky to get suddenly and seriously ill at a wrong time of the day, late in the evening, and his Belgian mother - obviously scared of the worst - took him immediately, although against the company's regulations, to the hilltop doctor's house. She was not even let in by the doctor's French wife and this shattering episode is described in detail in Chapter Nineteen of The Crippled Tree. The most dramatic part of the dialogue between the sick baby's mother and the doctor's French wife is cited below: “But my child is dying, he has convulsions. Madame, for the love of God, let me see the doctor.” “Certainly not, Madame. Don't shout like that, it is ridiculous. There is nothing wrong with your child, only teething. The doctor cannot see you.” “My baby is dying, my baby is dying,” screamed Mama, striking the door more violently, hurling her weight against it. “Get out, you and your filthy halfcast brat, get out of my house,” shouted the French woman upstairs. Then Mama heard a man's voice, and again the woman's: “I forbid you to go. Do you hear, Pierre? I forbid it. I will not have you kill yourself for the sake of a halfcast throwndown.” The next morning Sea Orchid was dead. Han Suyin was born to Roman Catholicism, owing to her deeply religious Belgian mother. Surprisingly enough, even Catholicism seemed split on racial grounds in that surrealistic land of Old China. In Chapter Twenty-Seven of The Crippled Tree, Han Suyin recollects her early memories of attending a Chinese Catholic school, attached to the Peking's Chinese Catholic Church (also known as East Church, or ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2001 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g 74 perhaps taken over within their own ethnic temple. The Iron-ox General is a black-skinned demonic figure dressed in pantaloons and anklets, standing, with a tiger skin draped around his waist, and with a bolero covering his shoulders. He has a narrow plain coronet, and is holding a heavy chain in his left hand and an axe raised above his head in his right. The Iron-ox and Bronze-ox were both live oxen transformed by Lishan Shengmu into human, albeit demonic form, to be her guardians and to protect the gateway to her mountain. They have powers in their own right which include, it is claimed, the prevention of natural disasters, and in particular flooding.27 b] In Fujian province prior to 1949 it was not uncommon to see the Eight Youths, young boys running round the procession when the palanquin containing the image of the deity was being borne around his parish. The boys were regarded in most places as the incarnate soldiery of the spirit armies of the deities. In others they were underworld generals whose exorcising dance was performed to rid the vicinity of demons. In Taiwan groups of young men regularly meet in certain temples and practice exorcist drills which they then perform for the public during annual ceremonies. Their other function is to act as bodyguards to the major deity in their temple when he is taken out in his carrying chair to process around the town. These youths are known in Taiwan as the Eight Underworld Generals A#. They are skilled in martial arts, have their faces painted in specific patterns using a number of bright colours, somewhat similar to the actors in Peking opera but generally regarded as demonic faces, and are dressed in a uniform of jacket and trousers and in a few temples, according to one temple keeper, they wear red bands, similar to those worn by the Boxers of the 1900 Rebellion, identifying which unit they belong to. The markings and forms of these youths tend to be identical with the Ba Jia Jiang, the statues lining the walls of Underworld temples in Taiwan. Such statues have also been noted in several Hainanese temples in South-east Asia where the group of Eight is known as Ba Ban Gong A, The "Eight Bosses". Whereas the total, Eight, would appear to be somewhat immaterial to most devotees and temple keepers, in Singapore the Eight represented the large number of gaolers in each of eight of the Ten Courts of the Underworld responsible for purging 28 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2001 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g 242 Several months later on 2nd April 1842, another piece of land adjacent to the burial ground was allotted for internment of Roman Catholics.7 It was recorded that during the leveling work, because of heavy rain, a landslide obstructed Queen's Road. A letter from the Inspector of the Land Office, dated 20 June 1842, required the building of a retaining wall and the immediate clearing of the road. Burials started as soon as the site formation was over. On the same compound, two brick houses were also built, one at the bottom used as a seminary and the second at the top of the hill as the residence of Father Luke Poon8 who had just arrived from Macao to assist the work in the seminary.9 10 Epidemics of fever, which visited Hong Kong each summer in its early years of development, retarded its development and gave it an evil reputation for insalubrity. 1841 and 1842 had been bad summers, but 1843 was even worse. In 1843 the annual death rate among European troops in Hong Kong was 22 percent and among Indian troops even higher. One regiment alone, at West Point, lost a hundred men between June and the middle of August.11 The Royal Army Medical Corps history records 'Hong Kong proved a costly acquisition, as in spite of good barracks and hospital as the men continued to fall sick and die.”12 Almost all contemporary public, private and regimental records had similar entries in regard to the terrible cost in lives, particularly among the troops, in the early development of Hong Kong.13 The popular Illustrated London News had the following account in 1845: Its diseases are endemic fever, diarrhoea and dysentery...The British Commander, General D'Aguilar, has declared, that to retain Hong Kong will require the loss of a whole regiment every three years... The grave yard was soon filled and another was required form14 the Surveyor-General, who found it difficult to point out a proper spot. The burial ground in Wan Chai had only been in use for a short period's15 as space was running out. It became necessary for a new burial site and the Wong Nai Chung Valley,16 soon to be named as Happy Valley, quickly provided the answer, 17 Yet the last graves and monuments in Wan Chai were not removed until 1889. By then it had become surrounded by a dense population of Chinese of the poorer classes, it is difficult to keep it in a condition of decency and cleanliness.18 The ground was sold for development. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2001 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g 292 I am sorry I cannot tell you much about the life of the keepers. If you have not been able to question Charlie Thirlwell (and people like him) then it is likely their story has gone forever. Sad, but so many stories are already lost. The good news however is that, over a period spanning approaching half a century, the author has been able to question, off and on, some of Hong Kong's lighthouse keepers, together with seafarers and Government Marine Department staff. Accounts given by them and the life keepers led are detailed in this paper. Much of the material is based on oral history gleaned in discussions with Government Marine Department staff, both serving and retired, as well as other persons. Both authors have made several visits to Hong Kong's lighthouses and have appeared on television programmes about them (Video; 2001). Emphasis in this paper has been placed on Waglan Lighthouse because, situated approaching five kilometres from and to the south of Cape D'Aguilar, and nearly 13 kilometres from Lei Yue Mun, Waglan is the most isolated lighthouse in the Territory (Banister; 1932, 50) (Lee, HC). Other lighthouses include those at Cape D'Aguilar and Cape Collinson, both on Hong Kong Island. Others at Green Island and Kap Sing lighthouse are both within harbour limits. Climatic conditions The author recalls visiting Waglan Lighthouse with the Royal Asiatic Society (Hong Kong Branch) by boat on a lovely afternoon on Saturday 9th June 1990. Indeed on some days out there in the South China Sea it can be idyllic - a not-to-be-forgotten experience. Terrence Courtney, an Australian who served as Superintendent of Lights in the late 1950s and '60s, used to stay overnight on the island because he found it ‘enchanting.' He slept in an isolated, small, brick building which is still standing. But the helipad, constructed in mid-1982, destroyed much of the romance although helicopters do of course provide a vital service - if a keeper fell seriously ill for example. Also, they were useful for getting keepers on and off Waglan in bad weather. Previously, it had sometimes meant their being hauled up or lowered in a basket which served the ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2001 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g 370 considerably out of sorts and suffering from gout. During the journey Jeremy Reid, one of the guards belonging to the Royal Regiment of Artillery, died: His disorder was occasioned by a surfeit of fruits, the man having eaten no less than forty apples at breakfast! On reaching 'Pekin' Macartney received letters informing him that Lion and other ships were leaving Chusan and that only Hindostan was remaining (Chusan being an island in the bay between Shanghai and Hangzhou, which was preferred, over Hong Kong, as a base by the British Government). Hearing that the ships had left Chusan upset the Chinese officials who wished, now the visit was over, for the Embassy to leave the coast of China as soon as possible, the limit of forty days prescribed for visits from without the Kingdom having been reached. Because of this the Embassy was then more or less directed to start on their return journey and left 'Pekin' on 7th October 1793 for Chusan travelling down the Grand Canal from Tientsin to Hangzhou. In Tientsin they were treated to a sumptuous banquet: ...excellent mutton, pork, venison and poultry of all kinds, fruits in great variety - peaches, plums, apples, pears, grapes, chestnuts and walnuts and several others new to them. The journal describes in some detail the construction and working of the system of sluices on the Grand Canal. These were unlike the locks on British canals but consisted of a single sluice which was raised by windlass, in fairly flat country, through which the boats were hauled when the sluice was raised. At Hangzhou it was confirmed that Lion and the other ships had left for Canton being urgently in need of medicine for the men on board. Hindostan was quite incapable of accommodating the entourage and all its heavy baggage and it was agreed, as though it was simply a matter of course, that the party would continue the long journey by river and with some trekking overland on ponies between the north and south flowing rivers, and so to make their way to Canton. They left Hangzhou on ponies on 14th November and reached Canton on 19th December. This was an extraordinary and intrepid journey. Macartney's ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2002 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278 each case this has been followed by sending a complete set of our Journals to the institution in question. As a result of this initiative, the number of Institutional Members of the Society has increased during the year from 9 to 21. We are continuing to keep this development in the front of our minds, and more new Honorary Institutional Members are likely to be approved during this next year. We hope in particular to agree arrangements which will allow us to get sets of our Journal into libraries in Peking and Canton. We are also currently looking into ways to increase the number of University Libraries with sets of the Journal, in Europe, America, and East Asia, and I hope to be able to give a full report on this next year. We have also agreed with the Leisure and Cultural Services Department of the Hong Kong Government to improve the holdings of the Journal in the Public Library Service of Hong Kong. We found when we investigated the issue, that there were eight sets of the Journal in the Public Library Service in Hong Kong, but that not even one of the sets was complete, and several were missing up to half the volumes. All the missing volumes have now been replaced at the Society's expense, and agreement with the Libraries Service reached so that every major public library now has a complete set. There are two sets in our library within the Central Library at Causeway Bay, and a third set in the public Reference Library of the Central Library, and sets in all the Regional Libraries (City Hall, Kowloon, Sha Tin, Tsuen Wan and Tuen Mun). The daughter of one of our Members who died recently has returned his set of the Journals to us as a donation, together with a large number of the Hong Kong Government Annual Reports. This very welcome and generous donation has allowed us to prepare another set of Journals which will, in due course, be donated to another library in Hong Kong. We are currently looking at possible sites for this set, in the context of an investigation into the holdings of the Journal in the libraries of Hong Kong's tertiary institutions, and in other scholarly libraries here. I hope to be able to make a further report on this issue next year. Structured Membership Drive Last year I also announced an initiative to seek to encourage Membership among selected target groups, particularly students of our xxvii ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2002 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278 287 The Consulate was on the most commanding elevation, at least fifty feet above the road with a steep mountain behind. About two hundred unruly soldiers gathered round the lower enclosure but seeing the four armed men did not approach. A written message was sent off to General Tao, commanding the permanent camp, half a mile off, stating that the man would not be released until the general came in person, identified the prisoner and punished him. After half an hour General Tao in his chair, with Colonel Peng on his charger, arrived and were informed that there was no intention to claim jurisdiction over or be harsh with the arrested man, but that it had to be clearly understood that if any soldiers or even officers came in to the settlement, they would be forced to obey the municipal bye-laws; and the Consul was the municipal chairman. The General was not too happy about the position he found himself in but was civil. He went with Parker to the prison, spoke with the man through the bars and as a result the man received about twenty slight bastinado-strokes on the spot and all was settled. The winter of 1877-8 was unusually bitter, the year of the great Shanxi famine when millions of Chinese perished from sheer want of food. Neighbouring provinces were invaded by endless streams of refugees and more especially so through the area surrounding Zhenjiang - because all roads from the north lead there. The authorities had provided thousands of mat hovels, on and against the city walls where shelter from the bitter wind was obtainable. Skilly was served out gratis twice a day with between fifty thousand to a hundred thousand refugees congregated around Zhenjiang. As we have already noted Zhenjiang was far from being the ideal posting and at least one consul there, in 1923, is known to have committed suicide. Consular duties brought hazards which, while not thought of as routine, were certainly sufficient to cause many a consul to look back with horror and amazement at what they had survived. One such consul would recall that in 1913, during the early days of the period of the war lords following the foundation of the Republic, with petty armies looting and causing endless unrest, soldiers of one such war lord, Zhang Xun, approached Zhenjiang bent on plundering the city. The British consul and a lone western merchant went out to face them - then, after very nearly being shot they held them at bay until one of their officers appeared and brought them under control. In another incident during the anti-British movement troubles of 1925 the British ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2002 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278 338 our concrete framed building, where I lived in Argyle Street, Kowloon, swayed. You could hear glass breaking, there was a constant job of mopping up. Water seals were sucked out of toilets. A problem of people As Claude Burgess, Colonial Secretary from 1958 to '63, was fond of saying, Hong Kong has a problem of people. They have swum in on pigs' bladders across Mirs Bay and Deep Bay and come in by just about every means possible. Up until 1980 there was a touch base policy. Any illegal immigrant who reached the urban area was allowed to stay. But after that date all illegal immigrants caught have been repatriated. In 1962, the Communists had a trial run and opened the 'flood gates.' Over a period of 25 days something like 70,000 men, women and children were allowed to surge into Hong Kong. The communist guards stepped back and directed the masses. They walked over the hills. Hong Kong was overwhelmed. And then, just as abruptly as they had opened, the flood gates shut. It seems to have been a move by the People's Republic to embarrass the colony. They wanted to show that they could take over Hong Kong at any time. Water shortage Hong Kong was invariably short of water, from the early years of British rule when everyone depended on streams and wells. Up to comparatively recent years the water supply situation was a common subject of conversation. In 1963, 'the year Hong Kong ran dry,' we were down to four hours of water on tap once every four days. In resettlement estates people started queuing for water eight hours before it was turned on and at Diamond Hill, it was reported, 20,000 people were dependent on one hydrant. Thieves stole water. Hindus, Taoists, Buddhists and Christians all prayed for rain. Water was shipped in by tankers from higher up the Pearl River. People would say at a reception, 'I must slip off early. Our water is turned on tonight.' Of course we, who lived in flats, also stored water. Bathing in a small amount of water was an art. Children went in the ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2003 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2v242g390 from last year and the year before. The SARS outbreak was to blame for some of this, since, in the early part of last year we were a little careful about putting events into the programme. Recently, we thought we were going to have to give up our lecture venue at the City Hall for some months, and so slowed the programme down, only to find that the long-awaited renovation and refitting of the Extension Activities Room had been put off, perhaps to the autumn, perhaps indefinitely, because of financial restraints. To put this into perspective, last year we had 17 lectures (2 more than this year), 9 local visits (5 more than this year), and 3 visits to places outside Hong Kong as against 4 this year. Last year the programme thus had 29 items on it, and this year only 23. In 2001-2002 there were 24. We will endeavour to do better during this up-coming year! The Council would welcome Members suggesting items for inclusion in the programme. Members willing to lead visits are particularly urged to put themselves forward! Improved Relationships with other Branches, and Extended Availability of the Journal in Libraries around the World Council has continued to take action to improve relations with our sister societies around the world, and has also taken action to ensure that full sets of the Journal are to be found in more Libraries, both academic and public. I am glad to repeat what I said last year, that full sets of the Journal are now to be found in all five of the Regional Libraries of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (in the City Hall, and in the Kowloon, Sha Tin, Tuen Mun and Tsuen Wan Regional Libraries), with three sets in the Causeway Bay Central Library. Sets are also available in the Public Library Service in Macau, and in Shenzhen, as well as in Shanghai. Negotiations are in hand to get sets into the library services at Canton and Peking as well. All the tertiary academic libraries in Hong Kong also now have full sets (two sets at Hong Kong University), as do the libraries of the Museums of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department. We are in process of ensuring that the other Museum libraries in Hong Kong also get sets. During this upcoming year, Council will continue to try to increase the number of libraries around the world which have the Journal. xxiii ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2003 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2v242g390 18 Restoring the damage done by the three years of Taiping destruction required a massive reconstruction project which lasted for nearly 30 years from 1871 to 1899. In addition to rebuilding the previous structures, several new halls which had not existed before were added during this time, including the Guest House (Ke Tang) and the Dining Hall (Zhai Tang) in 1887; the Goddess of Mercy Hall (Guan Yin Dian), Ancestors Hall (Zu Shi Dian), and the Kshitigarbha Hall (Di Zang Dian) in 1890; and finally the 500 Arhats Hall (Wu Bai Luohan Tang) in 1896. The Republican era, 1911-1949 At the beginning of the Min Guo Republic (1912), all the monks were forced to move out by armed soldiers who moved in and used the temple as a barracks. The soldiers looted the golden statues from the temple, and wooden parts of the temple such as window frames were used by the soldiers to make cooking fires. However, in 1920 the temple and the pagoda were both repaired, and after being closed for a whole decade the temple finally officially reopened in 1922 when all the monks came back. Holmes Welch's otherwise authoritative 1967 study of Buddhism in China mistakenly stated that Longhua Temple was occupied by the Chinese military for the entire Min Guo period. Photos from D. C. Burn's brief 1926 study of the temple show that the Qing Dynasty 500 Arhat Hall (Wu Bai Luohan Tang) was still intact then, although it no longer exists now. Longhua Temple enjoyed 15 years of peace and tranquility until September 11, 1937 when the temple was badly damaged during the Japanese attack on Shanghai. Nine Japanese airplanes dropped 30 bombs on the Longhua area. Most likely they were targeting the nearby Longhua Airport and the Guomindang's Longhua Garrison military camp next door, but they accidentally caused severe damage to the temple. Before the attack there had been 80 monks living in the temple, but afterward there were only 7 monks remaining. During the first five years of the Sino-Japanese War, 1937-1942, the internal affairs of the temple were confused and disorganized, with rival masters claiming the post of Abbot, and unqualified persons claiming to be Buddhist monks for the sake of seeking safe haven in the temple. On September 9, 1942 a reorganization committee was ================================================================================