chinese-christians-elites-middlemen-and-the-church — Page 1

CHINESE CHRISTIANS
Hong Kong University Press thanks Xu Bing for writing the Press's name in his Square Word Calligraphy for the covers of its books. For further information, see p. iv.

Echoes: Classics of Hong Kong Culture and History
The life of Hong Kong has been described and explored in many books, literary, historical and scholarly. Sadly many of those books are no longer in print. The purpose of Echoes is to reprint those special books about Hong Kong and its region, to bring their insights and the reading pleasure that they offer to new readers, and to bring back memories for those who knew these books before.
Other titles in the Echoes series:
Power and Charity: A Chinese Merchant Elite in Colonial Hong Kong
Elizabeth Sinn
A Biographical Sketch-book of Early Hong Kong
G.B. Endacott

CHINESE CHRISTIANS Elites, Middlemen, and the Church in Hong Kong
CARL T. SMITH
New introduction by Christopher Munn
* m *. * & & *t
HONG KONG UNIVERSITY PRESS
Hong Kong University Press
14/F Hing Wai Centre 7 Tin Wan Praya Rd Aberdeen Hong Kong
c Hong Kong University Press 2005
First published in 1985 by Oxford University Press
This edition published by Hong Kong University Press in 2005
ISBN 962 209 688 3
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue entry for this book is available from the British Library.
www.hkupress.org secure on-line ordering
Printed and bound by Pre-Press Limited in Hong Kong, China.
Hong Kong University Press is honoured that Xu Bing, whose art explores the complex themes of language across cultures,
has written the Press's name in his Square Word Calligraphy. This signals our commitment to cross-cultural thinking and the distinctive nature of our English-language books published in China.
fit
"At first glance, Square Word Calligraphy appears to be nothing more unusual than Chinese characters, but in fact it is a new way of rendering English words in the format of a square so they resemble Chinese characters. Chinese viewers expect to be able to read Square Word Calligraphy but cannot. Western viewers, however are surprised to find they can read it. Delight erupts when meaning is unexpectedly revealed."
�X Britta Erickson, The Art ofXu Bing
Plates vi Introduction to the Paperback Edition by Christopher Munn ix Foreword by James Hayes xxiii Preface xxxi
Introduction 1
PART I MISSION SCHOOLS AND THEIR PRODUCTS: A NEW TYPE OF CHINA COAST MIDDLEMAN 13
1 The Morrison Education Society and the Moulding of its Students 13 2 The Formative Years of the Tong Brothers, Pioneers in the Modernization of China's Commerce and Industry 34 3 Translators, Compradores, and Government Advisers 52 4 Friends and Relatives of Taiping Leaders 75 5 Sun Yat-sen's Baptism and Some Christian Connections 87
PART II THE CHURCH, MIDDLEMEN, AND THE HONG KONG SETTING 103
6 The Emergence of a Chinese Elite in Hong Kong 103 7 The English-educated Chinese Elite in Nineteenth-century Hong Kong 139 8 The Hong Kong Church and Nineteenth-century Colonial Attitudes 172 9 The Hong Kong Situation as it Influenced the Protestant Church 182 10 The Early Hong Kong Church and Traditional Chinese Ideas 195
Epilogue 210 Notes 218 Index 237
(Between pp. 112 and 113)
1 Buildings of the Basel Missionary Society station at Sai Ying Pun, Hong Kong, viewed from the west 2 The Lower Bazaar Chapel of the London Mission-
ary Society on Jervois Street, Hong Kong 3 The Union Church built in 1844 on Hollywood Road 4 The London Missionary Society house on the north
side of Aberdeen Street 5 The Anglo-Chinese College at Malacca 6 The chapel and mission house of the Basel Mis-
sionary Society station at Sai Ying Pun 7 Buildings of the Basel Missionary Society station at Sai Ying Pun on the north side of High Street 8 St. Paul's College, built as a wing of the Bishop's residence, Lower Albert Road
9 Officers of the Morrison Education Society from a circular to the friends and patrons of the Society, dated Macau, 20 December 1843
10 To Tsai Church, Hollywood Road 11 Wong Yuk-cho, pastor of To Tsai Church 12 Dr Wong Fun, educated at the Morrison Educa-
tion Society School 13 Ho Alloy, otherwise known as Ho Shan-chee, a pupil of the Anglo-Chinese College in Hong Kong 14 Liang Afah, ordained as an evangelist by the Revd R. Morrison in 1827
15 Ho Fuk-tong (1818-71), a student at the Anglo-Chinese College, Malacca, ordained as pastor for the Chinese congregation of the London Mis-sionary Society in Hong Kong in 1846
16 The Revd Charles Gutzlaff (1803-51) dressed as a Chinese sailor 17 Sun Yat-sen aged 18
18 The first page of a record book of the China Con-gregational Church, Hong Kong, giving baptisms by the Revd C. Hager
19 Wu Ting-fang, Chinese Ambassador to the United States, while on a visit to New Orleans 20 Dr Morrison and his assistants translating the Bible into Chinese, from a painting by George Chinnery
21 The Revd James Legge and his students, Le Kin-lun, Sung Fuh-keen and Woo Wan-sew, otherwise known as Ng Mun-sow, in the Theological Semi-nary, Hong Kong
22 Tablet presented by the Chinese community in Hong Kong to Dr James Legge
23 Miss Harriet Noyes, founder and principal for over fifty years of the True Light School for Girls at Canton
24 Medical students from the True Light School for Girls at Canton

Christopher Munn
Every so often a work of history appears that radically changes our understanding of people, place and period. Chinese Christians, first published in 1985, is such a work. This book asked questions about Hong Kong that had never been asked before. It showed that the leaders of Chinese society had a far greater role in shaping early Hong Kong history than earlier historians had believed. It also demonstrated, for the first time, that Chinese society in early colonial Hong Kong had coherence and continuity.
Dispensing with the traditional governor-by-governor approach to Hong Kong history, Chinese Christians explores the lives of some 200 men and women who came into contact with Christian missionaries in early Hong Kong and who used their connections to achieve wealth and status. Its themes are the building of communities in colonial Hong Kong and the "middlemen" who linked the Chinese and colonial communities. These were the people who laid the foundations of Hong Kong society. Many of them became influential beyond Hong Kong through their connections with the colonial community and its official religion. Yet, with the exception of Sir Robert Ho Tung, Yung Wing, Sun Yat-sen and perhaps one or two others, few of the characters in this book are remembered much today. Even the important among them find little place in the standard histories of colonial Hong Kong. Many of the men and women here are representative rather than significant �X people who are known simply because they happened to be recorded as members of congregations or schools. Some, like the indignant Chu Tak-leung or the declasse Taiping royals, are utterly unimportant. They are no less interesting for that.
In rescuing these lives from obscurity, Carl Smith has shown that the history of early colonial Hong Kong is more than just a narrative of governors, opium wars, merchant houses and grand reclamation projects: it is also the experience of ordinary people �X and of a few extraordinary men and women who saw the opportunities thrown up by British rule and tried to make something of them. In Chinese Christians these people speak clearly across the years: some of their voices are loud and impressive; others are moving; a few are angry and accusing. By bringing them together in this book, Carl Smith made a singular contribution to Hong Kong history. Together with his other writings on people and society in Hong Kong, Chinese Christians has, perhaps more than any other body of work, turned the field of Hong Kong history on its head.1
Chinese Christians was first published by the Oxford University Press in 1985 to mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of the founding of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society: Carl Smith was a driving force in the Society then, as he is today. The chapters that make up Chinese Christians were, however, published even earlier as separate articles in a number of Hong Kong journals and bulletins, one as early as 1969. Most of these journals are difficult, if not impossible, to track down. Chinese Christians itself has also become something of a rare book. It is now difficult to obtain from libraries. It is not to be found in bookshops, new or second-hand, and whenever it appears for sale on the Internet (which is not often) large sums are demanded. No book of this kind should be so inaccessible for so long. Twenty years on, this reprint seeks to remedy the problem.
This edition of Chinese Christians reproduces the original in its entirety, without revision and with the pagination and original foreword by James Hayes preserved.2 All that has been added is this new introduction, which has been written with Carl Smith's consent and warm co-operation. The main intention of this new introduction is to bring out some of the themes and significance of Chinese Christians and to examine the author's working methods.
* * *
For a book that has been assembled, without much modification, from essays and articles written over the course of over a dozen years, Chinese Christians achieves a remarkable coherence and consistency. Each chapter forms a discrete unit and can be read on its own, as Smith originally intended. Taken together, however, and read in sequence, the chapters add up to a book that is far more satisfying than the sum
1.
Nineteen of Smith's other essays on Chinese elites, neighbourhoods, women and labour, missionaries and communities are collected in A Sense of History: Studies in the Social and Urban History of Hong Kong (Hong Kong: Hong Kong Educational Publishing Co., 1995). Many more are scattered among a variety of books and journals.

2.
The Wade-Giles romanization of Chinese characters is also preserved, and is used, for the sake of consistency, in this new preface.


of its parts. Smith has structured Chinese Christians so that the discussion moves progressively from the particular to the general. After a brief introduction sketching the early Protestant communities in China and Hong Kong, the book begins with studies of particular institutions, families and connections: all of these studies are enriched with thick description and a great deal of quotation. The book then turns to the formation of elites in the first half-century or so of colonial Hong Kong. Finally, the view broadens, with three concluding chapters on the complex, often contradictory, relationships between people, Church and government.
Despite holding together well as a book, Chinese Christians is not always an easy work to navigate. It does not have the single narrative sweep of many comparable urban or social histories (though there is chronological development within articles and, to some extent, among them). The richness of detail and the anecdotes that make the book such a pleasure to read often lead us away from the main point of each chapter: sometimes, indeed, the "point" is in the detail �X in conveying an impression of the complexity and the muddle of so much of Hong Kong's history. This is not a fault, but a product of Smith's unusual methodology and of his reluctance to generalize. It might, however, be helpful to readers to provide a brief outline of the book and its main themes.
Chinese Christians is divided into two parts. In Part I, Smith examines the products of missionary education in a series of sketches that centre mainly on the schools and institutions in which they were taught. Chapter 1 draws on an extraordinary collection of letters and school essays to examine, mainly through the eyes of the students themselves, the effects of missionary education on a group of Chinese boys at the Morrison Education Society School in Macau and Hong Kong. This study is remarkable not just for its subjects �X most of these boys grow up to be substantial figures in the modernization of China �X but also for its touching vignettes of life at school, and for the cultural conflicts that it uncovers. In Chapter 2, Smith takes three of the graduates of this school, the Tong brothers, and traces their lives from humble childhood in Kwangtung Province of the 1830s and 1840s to wealth and fame in Hong Kong, Canton, Shanghai and Tientsin later in the century. This chapter illustrates one of the central arguments in Chinese Christians: the importance of an English-language education in launching careers in government, trade and industry. Chapter 3 enlarges on this theme, with an account of the lives of some of the translators, compradors and advisers �X the archetypal
xu
middlemen �X who transmitted knowledge and mediated in transactions between Chinese and Europeans. The central part of this chapter contains Smith's well-known essay on Wei Akwong, another Morrison School student, who rose from hungry beggarboy in Macau to become one of Hong Kong's richest and most respected citizens.
In Chapter 4, Smith pauses to remind us that not all contact with missionaries led to Christian enlightenment, personal wealth and social advancement. Here he explores the part played by Christian missionaries in and around Hong Kong in the Taiping Rebellion of the mid-nineteenth century. The Taiping Rebellion devastated much of southern China over a period of 20 years and resulted in the deaths of more than 20 million people. Christianity provided some of the inspiration for the bizarre and corrupted mixture of beliefs that made up the Taiping ideology. Hong Kong was the centre of some of this inspiration and became a refuge for some of the rebels and their families. Smith's interest is not so much in ideas but in the details of the contacts between missionaries in Hong Kong and the Taiping rebels and their families. His study also traces the work of missionaries in preparing the most prominent of these rebels, Hung Jen-kan, for his vain attempt to introduce a truer version of Christianity into the Taiping capital at Nanking. The chapter concludes with a touching account of the fate of some of the remnants of the Taiping movement: the minor members and friends of the Taiping royal families who sought refuge in Hong Kong and help from missionaries to regain the life they had before the Taiping kingdom.
The final chapter in Part I (Chapter 5) examines the Hong Kong connections of a more successful revolutionary figure, Sun Yat-sen. Sun's baptism in Hong Kong by an American missionary in 1883 was an important step towards his relationships with overseas Chinese communities, which later helped him raise funds for his various revolutionary enterprises. Smith also takes up here a theme explored in his study of the businessman Tsang Lai-sun in Chapter 4, and of the Tong brothers in Chapter 2: the formation of a network of interconnected Chinese families stretching beyond Hong Kong along the China Coast.
Part II of Chinese Christians takes us deeper into the Chinese community of nineteenth-century Hong Kong, with two chapters that are among Carl Smith's most original �X and certainly his most influential �X contributions to Hong Kong history. In place of the traditional generalizations about a murky, leaderless rabble of transients and criminals, Chapter 6 offers a detailed and documented anatomy of an organized Chinese community, with a clear leadership and sense of identity. For much of this chapter, Chinese Christians give place to generally non-Christian contractors, merchants and government employees, who organized and gave shape to Chinese society prior to the formation of the Tung Wah Hospital �X the headquarters of Chinese power �X in the early 1870s. Here we meet some of early Hong Kong's most colourful citizens: Loo Aqui, the sleazy head of the colony's gambling and retail drug empires, and the main reason why early British rulers were so concerned about the kind of people settling in the colony; the wealthy Tam Achoy and Kwok Acheong, who became leaders of the early Chinese community; and the newspaper editor, Chan Oi-ting, who was to become China's first Consul-General in Havana.
The final part of Chapter 6 notes the importance of Christian missions in producing leaders who could work out more effective and lasting relationships with the colonial government. This point is further brought out in Chapter 7, which explores the institutions and experiences that served as launching pads or stepping stones to success in nineteenth-century Hong Kong: the Church, western-style education, government employment, marriage or liaison with Europeans, previous experience in other colonies, professional status, community service, and �X common to nearly all of these categories �X proficiency in the English language. While Chapter 6 deals with a kaleidoscope of characters and situations prior to the establishment of the Tung Wah Hospital, Chapter 7 presents a more certain route to dynastic power and influence in Hong Kong �X the acquisition of English �X a tool which had its origins in the old Canton system and which has continued to wield importance long after the period covered by this book.
The final three chapters contain Carl Smith's reflections on the topics covered in Chinese Christians. These reflections take us into more abstract spheres. But they are still grounded in solid fact and gain strength from carefully chosen vignettes that sharply illustrate the conflicts and contradictions of nineteenth-century Hong Kong. The reader who wishes to know Smith's personal view of Hong Kong history should look here rather than in the largely narrative introduction. The earlier chapters deal with largely progressive events and processes: the formation of communities, for example, the growth of understanding between people of different backgrounds, and the building of careers and family fortunes. These final chapters take us into darker regions, and the observations in them are not comfortable ones.
In Chapter 8, Smith dwells on the racial and cultural barriers between European missionaries and Chinese Christians, and on the anomalies in the position of missionaries in nineteenth-century China: their reliance on imperial power and on funding from opium merchants; the contradictions between Christian values and the behaviour of Europeans in China; the layers of distrust between missionaries and their students. Like the other concluding chapters, this one is packed with telling anecdotes and quotations, including a scathing attack on Christian hypocrisy from Chu Tak-leung, a language teacher who was dismissed by his missionary employers after they found opium-smoking equipment in his room. Chapter 9 reflects on the role of the Church in what Smith refers to as "the Hong Kong situation": the city's complex meaning for its Chinese inhabitants as a place of refuge, freedom and opportunity, yet also as a place in which they were marginalized from both the colonial community and their own origins. The final chapter (Chapter 10) explores another awkward issue in the early Church in Hong Kong �X the conflicts, and the areas of concurrence, between traditional Chinese values and Christian teaching. Out of conflict comes much confusion and frustration, but also some progress: a large part of this chapter discusses, with great sensitivity, the role of the Church in the quiet liberation of Chinese women in Hong Kong.
* * *
It should be clear even from the bald summary above that Chinese Christians is not a simple book. Nor is it one that can be easily categorized. It contributes substantially to practically all aspects of Hong Kong history �X social, economic, political, cultural �X yet it cannot be described as a conventional "general history". The title highlights Chinese Christians and Hong Kong. But some of the most important material in the book deals with people who barely came into contact with Christianity, and its geographical scope stretches the whole length of the China Coast, down to the Chinese communities in Southeast Asia, and across to California. This is a work primarily of social and cultural history, not of religious or church history: even the "Christians" are (according to ancient Hong Kong usage) exclusively Protestants, and not members of the larger community of Roman Catholics. The most seminal chapter �X on the emergence of a Chinese elite in early Hong Kong �X deals with men who hardly came into contact with Christianity at all. The focus of Chinese Christians is on social elites, yet many of its most memorable characters are those who fell by the wayside.
Most striking of all, particularly to students of Hong Kong history brought up on the works of Endacott, Eitel and Sayer, Chinese Christians pays almost no direct attention to the colonial side of Hong Kong society. Compare this book, for example, with G.B. Endacott's Biographical Sketch-book of Early Hong Kong, first published in 1962, just a year or two after Carl Smith arrived in Hong Kong (and read John Carroll's new introduction to this work for an explanation of Endacott's entirely eurocentric approach).3 Chinese Christians moved the discussion of Hong Kong history away from its whiggish colonial framework, and away from the small number of Europeans who ran the official side of the colony, towards an understanding of the people who lived with (rather than under) colonial rule. The colonial presence is there, but it is a shadowy presence: governors, officials and European merchants are distant shadows, while men and women prominent in the Chinese community, but unheard of in most other histories, move to centre stage. The picture that emerges is not that of a passive, faceless Chinese community thriving under British tutelage, but one of men and women using the machinery of colonialism to launch professions, gather riches, secure political influence and build dynasties. Chinese Christians shows continuity, development, organization and self-awareness within the Chinese community, and particularly in its elites. In doing this, it quietly demolishes one of the central tenets of the traditional colonial histories: that the Chinese in Hong Kong were a passive, fragmented, loosely organized community of sojourners, who did not begin to look on Hong Kong as home until well into the twentieth century.
One of the other tenets of traditional historical writing about Hong Kong has been the idea that important sources for Hong Kong history have disappeared, whether through periodic clearing-out exercises, through destruction during the Japanese occupation, or through consumption by white ants, or some other scourge. There is much truth in this idea. But often it was an excuse for assuming that the few sources that survived had been exhausted, and that there was not much that one could say about some aspects of Hong Kong history �X particularly the Chinese experience �X even if one wanted to. Chinese Christians decisively overturned this notion by showing how imagination, persistence, and careful cross-referencing could throw up all kinds of materials for producing a detailed and coherent picture of
3. G.B. Endacott, A Biographical Sketch-book of Early Hong Kong (with an introduction by John Carroll) (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2005).
Chinese life in the colony. It introduced new sources, used new methodology, and achieved a degree of accuracy that, among other things, makes it possible to reprint this work without the need of corrections, despite all of the new research that has been carried out since its original publication.
Prior to Carl Smith's research (and with the exception of the notable work done on the rural areas by James Hayes and others), the source base for Hong Kong history had been notoriously narrow. Those few, such as Endacott, who bothered to research primary materials tended to stick to the core colonial archives, and to borrow many of their observations and conclusions from governors and senior officials. Those with insight and originality, like H.J. Lethbridge, bothered little with primary research. Smith's investigations into the sources are exhaustive. They cover the colonial canon as a matter of course, though they take little from it. They extend to newspapers, missionary archives, Chinese-language materials, private letters and other sources. In a pioneering way, they also find rich material in land records, wills and other sources that had hardly been glanced at. Smith's historical research is unprecedented in Hong Kong for its depth and detail, and it set new standards for Hong Kong history.
Smith's methodology is first to ask large questions and then to answer them by distilling masses of carefully organized research material into answers. There is a hint of how this process works on page 167 of Chinese Christians, where, having outlined the anatomy of the English-speaking Chinese elite in nineteenth-century Hong Kong, Smith says (with customary understatement) that his purpose in writing the chapter is "to refine some of the raw material, to systematize some of the data, before any positive sociological statements ... could be made". This process of refinement can be roughly summarized as follows:
�E
Information is gleaned from the primary sources and added (originally by hand and later by typewriter) to 8" by 5" library index cards, which are organized in filing cabinets according to individual names. Smith has, during nearly 50 years of research, accumulated some 140,000 of these index cards. Further records are organized according to neighbourhoods, streets and landholdings.

�E
Big questions �X Did becoming Christians make converts less Chinese and more westernized? Did their social and economic position change? �X are asked, and answers are sought from the huge mass of material accumulated on the index cards.


�E
The information on the index cards is pieced together according to topic, family, neighbourhood or institution and then transferred into a more narrative or explanatory format.

�E
The text is refined and moulded into material suitable for publication.

�E
Broad reflections and conclusions are added.


The style of Chinese Christians reflects this methodology. The work contains arguments and observations that are often strikingly original and sometimes controversial. But it is not a tightly organized thesis with the usual exposition, development and recapitulation: one important reason for this is that the research comes before, rather than after, the development of hypotheses, so that almost no fragment of information, however commonplace, is left ungleaned. The first impression may be that Chinese Christians is simple narrative or description, and, because it is largely biographical or prosopographical, much of it is indeed storytelling, though of a concentrated kind. Every so often, however, Smith steps back to observe the significance of what he has just described: the brief but focused conclusions to each chapter reveal that all of the detailed material in it serves to answer a clear set of questions, or to demonstrate broad observations. Smith himself compares this to "looking at a tree or a shrub in a great forest, perhaps getting lost for a while, and then beginning to see what this tree or that shrub had in relation to its neighbours, and suddenly seeing the whole ecological picture".4
There are three further ingredients in Smith's methodology. His remarkably precise memory of his own research tells him where to look among these thousands of index cards and gives him a control over his sources that is not readily available to the many researchers who use his cards for casual reference. His historical imagination, which ranges across the decades and into the very streets and homes of people in nineteenth-century Hong Kong, enables him to think through the choices, experiences and preoccupations of his subjects. His judgement and common sense, combined with the soundness of the research, never fail to maintain the confidence of the reader.
* * *
4. Quoted in May Holdsworth, Foreign Devils: Expatriates in Hong Kong (Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 2002), 147.
Chinese Christians, along with works by Henry Lethbridge, James Hayes, Elizabeth Sinn, David Faure, Chan Wai-kwan and Tsai Jung-fang, is one of the key texts in what might be called the Hong Kong school of Hong Kong history. Although its practitioners have never consciously claimed to be promoting a school, they can be easily differentiated from the Colonial school and the Nationalist school by their focus on Hong Kong and its people, rather than on the problems of colonial government or on Hong Kong as a topic in diplomatic relations. The Hong Kong schools tends to place Hong Kong's inhabitants, with all their complex experience and relationships, in the foreground, and to push the governors and officials who dominate the colonial and nationalist accounts into the background. In its methodological approach, the Hong Kong school makes wide use of previously untapped sources, particularly Chinese-language sources, and deploys the traditional colonial sources in a new and more critical way. Its centre of gravity, to use Smith's words, is in the life of ordinary people "and how they adapted or did not adapt to a colonial situation and the reasons for it".5
More broadly, and looking beyond Hong Kong, Smith's work on elite formation and social organization in Chinese and colonial cities can be likened to the work of William Rowe and Ho Ping-ti on China, and of Christopher Bayly and David Arnold on India. These historians have, like Smith, pioneered research into structures of power and continuity that complement or compete with those laid down by governments. Smith himself makes reference to earlier writings by Max Weber and R.H. Tawney in explaining the function of Christianity (or more specifically Protestantism) in the creation of wealthy elites.6 Outside of a few footnotes on works by other Hong Kong historians, this is the extent of his reference to other scholars. When asked about how his work fits into a larger historiography, he says that he is just filling in the gaps left by the more official colonial historians. If asked about his influence on other scholars, he tends to talk about graduate students who have recently sparked an interest.
This is characteristic Smith understatement, and a reminder that his consuming passion is pure historical search rather than theorizing or self-reflection. Needless to say, his influence has been far greater than he would have us believe. It extends to practically all of the
5. Ibid.
6. Smith, Chinese Christians, 193. The works referred to are Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism and R.H. Tawney, Religion and the Rise of Capitalism.
historians who have worked on Hong Kong over the last three or four decades: there are few among them who have not drawn material and ideas from his published works, and many who would have written a very different version of events had these works not existed. This influence comes not just from the contents of these works, but in what Smith has revealed about the source base for Hong Kong history and in the exceptionally high standards he has set for accuracy. Equally important, Smith's massive card index, a copy of which is now kept at the Hong Kong Public Records Office, has been delved into by researchers into all aspects of Hong Kong's past and treated almost as a canon of primary sources on early Hong Kong society. This is no small achievement for a historian who began his research as a sideline to his vocation in the Church.
Carl Thurman Smith was born on 10 March 1918 at Dayton, Ohio: Dayton was at that time a moderately large industrial city, and the home of Orville and Wilbur Wright, the pioneers of aviation. Smith took a Bachelor of Arts degree at DePauw University, Greencastle, Indiana in 1940 and graduated from the Union Theological Seminary, New York as a Master of Divinity in 1943. In the same year he was ordained as minister in the Evangelical and Reformed Church (now the United Church of Christ). After two years as Pastor of Dewey Avenue Reformed Church, Rochester, New York, he became Founding Pastor of St Stephen's United Church of Christ at Philadelphia. Then, in 1960, he decided he wanted go into missionary work and joined the United Board for World Ministries, which sent him, after a few months of Cantonese training at Yale University, to the Hong Kong Council of the Church of Christ in China. In Hong Kong he lectured in theology first at the Church's Theological Institute in Tuen Mun, and then between 1962 and 1983 at Chung Chi Seminary and its successor, the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
While still a schoolboy, and later during his time as pastor in Philadelphia, he developed an interest in family history and genealogy
�X both his own and that of other people in the places in which he lived. In Hong Kong, when asked to teach a course on the history of the Protestant Church in China, he discovered that most of the books on this subject "dealt with what the missionaries did and not who the Chinese converts were". Smith was not willing to teach the subject just from the missionary point of view.
I thought to myself �X the students are young Chinese who would be working with Chinese people, and they ought to know more
about the origins of the Church as it affected Chinese lives. I thought I would try and get as much material as I could about early Chinese converts in the missions, particularly in this area of China, using the same methodology that I had employed for my genealogical research in the USA and looking at all the archives I could find.7
This, then, was the stimulus for the research that went into Chinese Christians, and the explanation of its unusual methodology: fundamental questions about the impact of Christianity on individual lives; and genealogical research transformed into historical research into communities and social networks.
In 1983 Smith formally retired from teaching, although he continued to give courses at various universities in Hong Kong. He then devoted most of his time and energy to his research into Hong Kong and China Coast history. In 2002, at the age of 84, when he might be expected to start to take life easy, he took on a full-time position with the Instituto Cultural of Macau, under whose auspices he is continuing work begun some years ago on the history of society and social elites in Macau. He now spends most of his time in Macau, returning to Hong Kong from time to time for meetings, seminars and other events. There has been no relaxation in his work routine, which begins early in the moming and stretches into the evening, although it now usually includes a generous afternoon nap.
We might expect a man who spends most of his waking hours sifting through land records and old newspapers to be a somewhat solitary, obsessive figure, with perhaps little time or inclination for socializing. Carl Smith is quite the opposite of this. He has often said that the greatest reward from his work is the large number of friends that it has introduced him to. These are friends, new and old, from all parts of the world and from all walks of life, who visit or correspond with him about all aspects of Hong Kong history. His home is rarely free of visitors, who come not just for the index cards but to find what cannot be set down in writing or tracked in footnotes: the advice, insights and guidance of a scholar with nearly half a century of research behind him. Many have gone to him to clarify facts or fill gaps, but have come away with new ideas and questions about the patterns and shapes of Hong Kong history.
7 Quoted in Holds worth, Foreign Devils, 144
Yet it would be misleading to present Carl Smith as some grand patriarchal figure, or as a solemn oracle with an answer for everything and an aversion to small talk. He has many questions of his own to ask, and (after research) his great passion is conversation. His interest is in people, and he listens as much as he speaks. Like all good conversation, talk with him tends to stray well beyond its starting point, and, given his curiosity about the foibles of historical figures (living and dead), often becomes irreverent. The welcome he gives to those who consult him, and the complete absence of any sense of proprietorship over his research have set the tone for the collegial way in which Hong Kong history is practised. The humour and the warmth have created many lasting friendships. The interest he takes in other people's research makes him the greatest single source on what other Hong Kong scholars are working on at any given time.
Chinese Christians was first published when Hong Kong's transition from British colony to Special Administrative Region of China had just begun. A year before, in 1984, Great Britain and China had made their Joint Declaration on the future of Hong Kong. Although the declaration gave many reassurances, there were concerns about whether people in Hong Kong would continue to enjoy their traditional way of life after 1997. In the spirit of the times, and in keeping with the subject matter of the book, the introduction and epilogue to Chinese Christians raises questions about the prospects for freedom of research and religion in the territory, and the future path of institutions such as the Royal Asiatic Society (which co-published the book) and the Christian Church. Twenty years on, many of these questions are now being answered. People still worship freely. The Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society held on to its royal connections in 1997 and now has more members than it had in 1985. Stimulated by world interest in Hong Kong in the run-up to 1997, academic research is flourishing, especially in the field of Hong Kong studies. In many ways, Chinese Christians asks, and goes a long way towards answering, more fundamental historical questions about the nature and origins of Hong Kong society. This book is important to anyone with an interest in Hong Kong's development as a city, and particularly to those who may believe that a "Hong Kong identity" was a creation of the late twentieth century.

IT is a great honour for me to be able to provide a foreword to this study of elites, middlemen, and the Chinese Protestant Church in Hong Kong by my friend, the Revd Carl T. Smith. In it, I shall touch on the importance of his work for present-day Hong Kong and on the record of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, since this book, a joint venture with Oxford University Press, marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the re-establishment of the Society in Hong Kong.*
Carl Smith, a Vice-President of our Society, is the most assid-uous and knowledgeable researcher into Hong Kong society among local Western scholars. He has made a long and careful search among all kinds of source material for the history of this port-city over many years and has written a great many articles on various aspects of its history and development. His work has tended to concentrate on Chinese social organization in the city, especially its leading institutions, and, as befits a clergyman and teacher of theology, on the establishment and development of the Chinese Christian community in Hong Kong. He has concentrated on urban work, in contrast to most other researchers, who have tended to apply themselves mainly to the much older, rural com-munities of the New Territories. It is fitting that, at this time in Hong Kong's history, that hitherto-neglected subject, the urban history of Hong Kong, is coming into its own. Fortunately, more scholars are now aware of its intrinsic interest, and the public is more ready for the results of their work. This book, focusing as it does on the people and their institutions against the background of their times, will be a stimulus to other researchers, and a useful research aid to further effort.
Its intrinsic value apart, Carl Smith's work takes on a new im-portance at this time of preparation for a largely autonomous Hong Kong after 1997, when the territory will become a Special Administrative Region within the People's Republic of China. Hong Kong people, whether they want to or not, have to over-come their long-standing lack of interest in government and poli-tics in order to participate in the current constitutional changes, with their intended politicization of local�Xincluding district�X affairs, which are designed to provide a politically as well as eco-nomically viable Hong Kong by 1997. Carl Smith's careful de-scription of our earlier social development and the insights he provides are required reading for those who seek to understand our present-day society. They show, too, that the part which Hong Kong people now have to play in preparing for their future is not as foreign to them as some may think.
The message of this book must, I think, be that, although the urban population has been mobile and largely male until relatively recently, local society, even under colonial rule, took firm steps almost from the beginning towards creating a community, viewed in its many parts and as a whole. In this respect, the Chinese genius for community organization, so marked by researchers working in the rural parts of the Hong Kong region, has been more developed in the urban areas than one would think. This is not in itself surprising, since studies of overseas Chinese communities in Singapore, the Philippines and Indonesia, especially Jakarta, have shown what impressive organizations have been created, and man-agerial capacity amply demonstrated, by peasant immigrants and petty shopkeepers there, in precisely the same way as experienced in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Hong Kong.
I turn now to an account of the Society, reproduced from a leaflet prepared by Dr J.R. Jones, CBE, MC, our first President until his retirement in 1970.
The Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society was originally founded in 1847, but it ceased to exist at the end of 1859. Exactly a century later, on December 28, 1959, it was resuscitated with the approval of the parent society in London�XThe Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland.
The (Royal) Asiatic Society was founded in London in March 1823 'for the investigation of subjects connected with and for the encouragement of science, literature and the arts, in relation to Asia'. It received its Charter of Incorporation as a royal society from His Majesty King George IV on Au-gust 11, 1824. The Royal Asiatic Society is the oldest and most important Society of its kind in Europe, and its standing as the doyen of Societies promoting the study of Asia has been maintained by the devotion of generations of eminent scholars, explorers and others who have contributed through its Journal, in public addresses and in many other ways, a rich harvest of knowledge, both academic and practical, in the service of Western understanding of the East.
A large part of the Society's work has always been done through its branches and affiliated Societies in the East. Branches were formed at Bombay and at Madras about 1838, and in Ceylon in 1845. The Hong Kong Branch followed in 1847, the North China Branch at Shanghai in 1857, the Japanese in 1875, the Malayan in 1878, and the Korean in 1900, etc. etc.
The Hong Kong Branch grew out of a Medico-Chirurgical Society founded in 1845. This Society, however, in accord with the contemporary spirit of inquiry and the enthusiasm for better knowledge of Asia in general and China in particu-lar, had contemplated setting up a Philosophical Society; but the movement ended in the establishment of the Asiatic Soci-ety with laws drafted by Andrew Shortrede, Editor of the China Mail, and based upon those of the Royal Asiatic Soci-ety. Sir John F. Davis, the Governor, by reason of his known literary and scientific acquirements rather than his official rank, was asked to be President. He suggested that the Soci-ety should seek to be admitted as a Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society with which, as a founder member, he was in close touch and with whose active President, the Earl of Auckland, he had discussions on these lines before he left England.
So in January 1847 the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society was founded, and all the members of the Medico-Chirurgical Society who wished to join were ad-mitted without ballot or entrance fee on condition of their Society's apparatus and books being handed over to the new body.
Besides the Governor and Shortrede, the first office-bearers included Major-General D'Aguilar, Peter Young the Colonial Surgeon, Mercer the Colonial Treasurer, John Bowring the younger (of Jardines); and also Thomas Wade, the celebrated interpreter and Envoy to China, who later be-came famous as inventor of the Wade System of romaniza-tion of Chinese still in general use today. As Sir Thomas Wade he was to become President of the Society in London in 1887.
In his Inaugural Address as President of the Hong Kong Branch, Sir John Davis stressed the importance of directing the Society's attention to practical projects and to natural history, geology and botany, as well as to literary pursuits, and suggested that he could get the sanction of the Colonial Office to the grant of a moderate piece of ground for a Botan-ical Garden. Sir John left the Colony in 1848; but, as the result of a stirring appeal by the Rev. C. Gutzlaff, the mis-sionary, at a meeting of the Society in August 1848, the project was approved, although it was not carried into effect until the governorship of Sir John Bowring (the younger John Bowring's father), and then the Garden was placed under Government control and not under that of the Society.
During the twelve years of its life, the Society was dogged to some extent by the personal animosities prevalent in Hong Kong in the early days; but itflourished under the inspiration of Sir John Davis, and also for a time under Sir John Bow-ring, who enjoyed a European reputation as a scholar�Xas President he preferred to be called Dr. Bowring�Xand who animated the Society with his personal influence and by his contributions to its discussions. The Society had no perma-nent home of its own, but in 1849 it was granted by Sir S.G. Bonham a room in the Supreme Court building. It published six volumes of Transactions, the first in 1847 and the last in 1859. The Hong Kong Branch now possesses a microfilm of these six volumes.
With the departure of Sir John Bowring in May 1859 and the death in the September following of the Branch's de-voted Secretary�XDr. W.A. Harland, M.D.�Xthe Society collapsed. The efforts of Dr. James Legge, as well as those of Sir Hercules Robinson, the new Governor, as President, of the Bishop of Victoria and of the Acting Chief Justice as Vice-Presidents and of Harry (later Sir Harry) S. Parkes were of no avail.
The collapse of the Society came at an unfortunate time and deprived it of the prestige and momentum which it would undoubtedly have gained from the work of some of its famous members. Legge was on the eve of publishing his famous translation of the Chinese Classics, which eventually appeared only through the generosity of Joseph Jardine (and his successor Sir Robert Jardine) and of John Dent, the heads of the two largest merchant houses in the Colony. A little later, in 1865, T.W. Kingsmill had to resort to the aid of the Shanghai Branch for the publication of his studies on the geology of Hong Kong.
The North China Branch started in Shanghai in 1857 under the name of the Shanghai Literary and Scientific Society. Its first President was the Rev. E.C. Bridgman, D.D., the first American missionary in China and the founder and manager of the Chinese Repository. Its first Journal appeared in 1858 in the name of the Literary and Scientific Society, but in that year the Society became affiliated to the Royal Asiatic Soci-ety as its North China Branch. Except for a brief period between 1861, when Dr Bridgman died, and 1864 when the Society was reanimated through the unremitting efforts of Sir Harry Parkes as President, it maintained for nearly 85 years�Xuntil the outbreak of the second world war [in Asia] in December 1941�Xalmost an unbroken vigour and a high reputation as one of the principal centres for the study and discussion of Oriental culture in Central China. It kept up a high standard of scholarship and of cultural appeal in its Journal, which appeared unfailingly every year. After the war it continued its work until, in 1949, it was forced through political troubles to cease its activities. The last issues of the Journal were published with the cooperation of the Interna-tional Institute of China.
From its earliest days the Society in Shanghai was fortu-nate in the support of a generous public and of the British Government, which in 1868 provided it with a site at a nominal rent for its own building, completed in 1871. Later the property was conveyed to the Society in perpetuity or for so long as it was used for the Society's purpose. Thus, in 1931 the Society was able, with the aid of public subscriptions and generous municipal grants, to build in Museum Road close to the British Consulate a commodious building of its own; it contained a lecture hall named after the donor who was the late Dr. Wu Lien-teh, a floor to accommodate its Oriental Library of 12,000 volumes and adjacent reading rooms, as well as space for an excellent natural history museum and for the exhibition of Chinese paintings and other works of art, with Arthur de Carl Sowerby as Curator in whose memory a member of the Society gave a donation of HK$10,000 to the Hong Kong Branch.
In 1941 the Society in Shanghai had nearly 800 members, including most of the leading Oriental scholars, explorers and travellers. Amongst the outstanding personalities who had been associated with the North China Branch a few may be mentioned�XDr. Joseph Edkins, Thomas W. Kingsmill, Dr. Emil Bretschneider, Henri Cordier (at one time the Society's Librarian), P.G. van Mollendorf, Sir Robert Hart, Sir Harry Parkes, Sir Byron Brenan, W.H. Medhurst, Sir Edmund Hornby (the first British Judge in China), Sir Rutherford Alcock, H.A. Giles, E.H. Parker, H.B. Morse,
A.P. Parker, Alexander Hosie, Samuel Couling, Sir Sidney Barton and Dr. J.C. Ferguson, an American, former Presi-dent of Nanking University and a man of profound learning and wisdom who, in the course of half a century, served the Society as President, Secretary and Editor of the Journal.
The Hong Kong Branch was resuscitated as the outcome of a meeting attended by some thirty interested persons, held at the British Council Centre on December 28, 1959. The meeting adopted a constitution approved by the parent Soci-ety in London, and formed an interim Council to hold office until a General Meeting should be held. The following were elected to the Council:�XPresident: Dr. J.R. Jones; Vice-Presidents: The Hon. Sir Tsun-nin Chau and Dr. [later Sir] Lindsay Ride; Hon. Secretary: Mr. J.D. Duncanson; Hon. Treasurer: Mr. T.J. Lindsay; Hon. Editor of the Journal: Mr. J.L. Cranmer-Byng; other Councillors: Dr. Marjorie Topley and Messrs. James Liu, Holmes Welch, and G.B. Endacott. His Excellency the Governor, Sir Robert Black, graciously consented to become the Patron of the revived Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. He was a life member of the Society and in recognition of his active and valuable service to the Society he was elected an Honorary Member.
The Inaugural Meeting was held on April 7, 1960, in the Loke Yew Hall of Hong Kong University. It was to have been presided over by His Excellency the Governor, had illness not prevented it. The Inaugural Address was delivered by Professor F.S. Drake, Professor of Chinese at Hong Kong University, on 'The Study of Asia: a Heritage and a Task'.
On January 23, 1961, Sir Robert Black presided over a
meeting of the Branch in his capacity as Patron, and thus
restored a tradition after a lapse of a hundred years.
In reviewing the work of the Society since its inauguration, one may say that, in a quiet way, it has been fulfilling the expectations of its founders. We do contribute to the knowledge of China and East Asia, with special reference to Hong Kong, through our lec-ture programmes, our local and overseas tours to places of histor-ical interest, and our Journal. Our library, too, has been built up over the years and now comprises over 3,000 volumes of books about China, many of them of abiding interest and value. What-ever we may have achieved is, of course, due to the contributions of many interested authors, here and abroad, to the work of the Council, and to the support given by members of the Society.
Against this modest achievement, one must admit that there are factors which operate to our disadvantage. In the first place, Hong Kong has always been a very busy place. Unless retired, and some-times not even then, most of us have full-time, demanding jobs which leave little time or energy for other pursuits. Whilst we have never found it difficult to recruit Council members, there has al-ways been a limit to the amount each of us can do for the Society. Councillors are either librarians, editors, secretaries, or the like, but no one yet has been able to combine several posts or take up additional duties. This has hit us particularly hard with regard to promotion of and publicity for the Society and its work. We find it very difficult to deal with this kind of situation, which results in a fundamental dilemma: until we carry out more promotion and publicity, our membership will remain low and our publications will not sell as well as they ought or reach their full potential pub-
lic. We have addressed these problems again recently and are trying to improve the position.
Now is also the time for the Society to look ahead, especially in anticipation of the severing of the link with Britain and the estab-lishment of a highly autonomous Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China. There are those who conclude that the Royal Asiatic Society has no place in the new situation. Its name alone, they say, however honourable in itself, is sufficient indication that we cannot expect to continue after 1997, when Hong Kong will no longer be a colonial appendage of Great Brit-ain and the whole emphasis and outlook of the territory will have changed and when, in the words of Chairman Deng Xiaoping, 'Hong Kong people will govern Hong Kong'.
I do not deny that change is necessary and this may even involve a change in title, but what is in a name? Surely it is the content of what one does which is important, and the question is whether there will still be a need in Hong Kong for work in the English language on China past and present in all its diversity and com-plexity. We can surely expect that there will be a continuing inter-est in the subject among Hong Kong residents. If a name is the only barrier to progress, we could become the Asiatic Society of Hong Kong, and I am sure the mother society would not sever our association for such a trifle.
Perhaps more to the point, we should now be considering whether to move towards a bilingual presentation in our lectures and publications for it is arguable that, through creating a wider potential interest and membership, the resources of the Society would broaden and extend so as to enable us to move away from the narrow base of the first twenty-five years.
In short, we should be assessing our situation and the options open to us and be taking steps to move in the right direction like other bodies faced with similar problems. In this way, we will be able to look forward more confidently to celebrating our fiftieth anniversary in 2010, which will also be the 163rd anniversary of the founding of the first branch of our Society in Hong Kong.
JAMES HAYES President
* Strictly speaking, although the earlier branch seems to have been popularly re-ferred to as the Hong Kong Branch, and our first President, Dr J.R. Jones, has used this term in the account quoted below, its official title was the China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society.
SHORTLY after my arrival in Hong Kong in 1961 to teach in a theo-logical school, I was asked to conduct a course on the history of the Christian Church in Hong Kong. As this was an area I had not studied previously, I sought out material on the subject. I was immediately struck by the paucity of detailed information about the Chinese converts. From what social and economic group had they come? How did becoming a Christian affect their relation-ship with non-Christians? Did they become less Chinese and more Westernized? Did their social and economic position change? To what extent were they alienated from their cultural tradi-tion?
Although these matters were referred to in the literature, much more attention was devoted to the missionaries and their activities. This emphasis on the missionary troubled me. I was to teach Chinese students; should not the emphasis be on the Chinese side of the story? I acknowledged that I was not Chinese, nor was I acquainted with the Chinese literature on the subject, but I still felt an obligation, in preparing the course, to emphasize the Chinese aspects of the development of the Church more than the missionary aspects, though, admittedly, until a fully independent Chinese Church had been established, the two strands could not be separated.
As a local historian and genealogist by avocation, I decided to apply the methodology I had acquired in these fields to find what material I could about the origins and careers of Chinese Christians in Hong Kong. This approach resulted in the gather-ing of many isolated items which formed a base on which to build up biographies and recreate the community setting of the lives of Chinese Christians. Only after I had ferreted out the details and placed them in order could I formulate general prin-ciples.
This volume represents the result of my studies. The chapters were originally published as separate articles in Ching Feng, a quarterly of the Ecumenical Study Centre at Tao Fong Shan, the Chung Chi Bulletin, the Chung Chi Journal, the Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, and a symposium publication of that society entitled Hong Kong: the Interaction of Tradition and Life. They are reproduced here with the kind per-mission of the relevant journals.
CARL T. SMITH April 1985
THIS introductory chapter provides a framework for the more de-tailed studies in succeeding chapters. It sketches the introduction of Christianity into China and the organization of Chinese Protes-tant congregations in Hong Kong in the nineteenth century; it makes selected reference to some of the Chinese workers in these congregations, describes the missionary's attitude towards those who were not Christians and his educational philosophy, and ex-plains the role of missionary schools in the creation of a new type of China-coast middleman.
Christianity, like Buddhism, was brought to China from the West. Buddhism was introduced into China from India. Christian-ity came by trade routes from Central Asia. Thefirst certain evi-dence of Christianity in China is in the Tang dynasty. A stele at Hsianfu erected in AD 781 records the arrival of a Nestorian Chris-tian, 'A-lo-pen', in AD 635. The Nestorian form of Christianity, even though it took on certain Chinese characteristics in its new environment, slowly withered into insignificance. Roman Catholic missionaries from Europe arrived in China at the end of the thir-teenth century. With the collapse of the Mongol domination of China, Christianity again died out. In the sixteenth century, the Portuguese pioneered another wave of Catholic missionaries. Since then, a Christian presence has been continuously maintained in China through periods of favour and disfavour.
Protestant clergy accompanied the Dutch in their occupation of Formosa in the seventeenth century and made an attempt to con-vert the natives of the island. After this effort, which had no lasting results, no Protestant missionary came to China until 1807, when the Revd Robert Morrison arrived at Canton. He was not wel-comed by the East India Company, which controlled British trade with China. Indeed, the attitude of the Company towards mis-sionaries forced Morrison to arrive on an American ship and to take up residence as a guest of an Americanfirm whose partners were eager to see Protestant mission work begin in China. Two years after his arrival, Morrison was offered the post of trans-lator for the East India Company. His acceptance regularized his residence at Canton and Macau. Though his missionary interest
was not welcomed by the Company, his language skills were. The missionary and his students, who were educated in the English language, were used as necessary language links between for-eigners and Chinese.
The first conversion of Chinese by Protestant missionaries occurred in overseas Chinese communities, principally at Malacca, Penang, Singapore, Batavia, and Bangkok. (A list of converts up to 1843 is given in the Appendix.)
By the Treaty of Nanking, signed in 1842, five ports in China were opened for foreign residence. Though the missionary would have wished for completely free access to China, he welcomed the opportunity the treaty provided; and with the cession of Hong Kong to the British, there was an area on the edge of China where he could be free from the expected hostility and harassment of Chinese officials. It was soon recognized, however, that Hong Kong was not China and that relations between foreigners and Chinese in a colony were different from those in Chinese cities. The missionaries had ambivalent feelings about these differ-ences.
The first Chinese to come to the new settlement of Victoria on Hong Kong Island did not represent a cross-section of Chinese society. They came for economic advantage or to escape from Chinese jurisdiction. Later, Hong Kong became a refuge for those fleeing disturbances in China.
For missionaries Hong Kong was a place to bide until the terms of the treaty between England and China had been fixed, signed, and ratified, and had become operative. Most of the missionaries who had been working in the Chinese communities in South-east Asia and those living in Macau came to Hong Kong before moving on to the treaty ports. Some, however, remained to establish the Chinese Protestant Church in Hong Kong.
Within days of the unfurling of the British flag on Possession Point on Hong Kong Island in 1841, a party of missionaries came from Macau to look over the island to see whether it would be a suitable field for their work. A year later, in February 1842, the first missionary took up permanent residence: the Revd Issachar
J. Roberts, a Baptist, moved over from Macau. A month later, he was joined by the Revd J. Lewis Shuck and his wife, Henrietta. She was the first foreign lady to reside in Hong Kong. In the same year, their colleague, the Revd William Dean, and his wife arrived from Bangkok. The relationship between Roberts and Shuck was strained and Roberts moved to the village of Stanley. For a short time he conducted a school there.
A Baptist congregation was organized in Hong Kong in May 1842 , and in July a chapel was opened on Queen's Road west of its junction with Wellington Street. In April 1843, the Baptist Church had nine European and three Chinese members. A month later, Dean organized a separate Chiu Chow-speaking congregation of three members.
The Baptist mission opened a boarding-school in the spring of 1844 with fifteen pupils. Dr Thomas T. Devan arrived in October 1844 and, shortly afterwards, opened a dispensary in Kowloon City. Both the school and the dispensary were short-lived, for Devan and Shuck, along with nine Chinese assistants, the entire Cantonese-speaking congregation, moved to Canton in April 1845. Roberts also moved to Canton, taking a few converts with him.
Dean remained in Hong Kong. His work among Chiu Chow speakers was extended to Stanley, to the village of To Kwa Wan on the Kowloon peninsula, and to the island of Cheung Chau. The American Baptist Mission in Hong Kong was closed in 1860 and its work transferred to the newly opened port of Swatow. However, a small Chiu Chow-speaking congregation continued in Hong Kong. Fifteen years later, in 1875, the widow of the Revd John Johnson organized a school for girls and was active in the affairs of the congregation. The members of the congregation were gradually shifting from the Chiu Chow dialect to the Cantonese.They re-ceived occasional visits from the missionaries of the Southern Bap-tist Convention at Canton. A report dated 1889 states that there were sixty members on the books but only twenty were counted as faithful.
A wealthy American lady visited Hong Kong in 1896 and do-nated money for a building for the congregation which, through the years, had been meeting in rented premises. In 1901, the Hong Kong Chinese Baptist Church was organized as a self-supporting congregation with thirty-eight members in a newly opened build-ing on Peel Street. This congregation is the present Caine Road Baptist Church.
The Revd James Legge of the London Missionary Society moved the station at Malacca to Hong Kong in May 1843. He brought with him a small group of nine converts, several of whom were young people. They formed the nucleus of a reorganized Anglo-Chinese College which had originally been founded at Malacca in 1819 by the Revds William Milne and Robert Morri-son. Legge closed both it and his Theological College in 1856, at the time considering them to have been failures.
In Hong Kong Legge organized a Union Church for foreigners and also gathered a Chinese congregation. A Chinese pastor, the Revd Ho Fuk-tong, was ordained in 1846. Elders and deacons were elected in 1847. At the time, the church had twenty mem-bers. In 1875, a constitution was adopted for The Independent Chinese Church of Hong Kong'. The congregation increasingly assumed its financial obligations. In 1863, two auxiliary chapels were opened�Xone to the west in Tai Ping Shan, the other to the east in Wan Chai. To build these the Chinese contributed $1,300. A few years later they raised $1,000 to build a chapel at Fat Shan (Fo San) in Kwangtung Province. By 1884, they were able to pro-vide full support for their newly elected pastor, the Revd Wong Yuk-cho.
Through the years, the congregation had met on Sunday after-noons in the Union Church. In 1888, they occupied a part of their own new building on Hollywood Road near Aberdeen Street. As a fully independent congregation, they adopted the name To Tsai Church'. In 1926, this congregation moved to Bonham Road under a new name, Hop Yat Church.
In the 1880s, the area in which the Tai Ping Shan chapel had been built was resumed by the Government as a plague-prevention measure. The work there was transferred to Yee Wo Street at Causeway Bay. In 1919, this congregation was moved to Eastern Hospital Road, So Kon Po, as Shing Kwong Church of the Church of Christ in China.
Work was started by the London Missionary Society and To Tsai Church in Sham Shui Po in Kowloon in 1892. Out of this work the present Shum Oi Church, of the Church of Christ in China, was organized. In the same year that work was started at Sham Shui Po, a chapel was opened in a store at Yau Ma Tei. The mem-bers of Union Church and To Tsai Church organized the New Territories Evangelization Society in 1898 to send evangelists to this newly acquired area.
Although a colonial chaplain, the Revd Vincent Stanton, ar-rived in Hong Kong in 1843, work among the Chinese by the Anglican Church was slow in getting under way. Stanton was inter-ested in such work but his main responsibility was the spiritual welfare of the British community. In 1847, however, he gathered some Chinese boys into a class. In 1850, the first Bishop of Vic-toria, the Right Revd George Smith, brought with him to Hong Kong funds and plans to reorganize Stanton's school on a larger scale as St. Paul's College. Three of its students were baptized in June 1851. They were followed by other students from the College, the Diocesan Native Female Training School (1860) and schools conducted by Miss Magrath and Miss Baxter. The student converts worshipped with the Cathedral congregation.
The first Anglican missionary sent to Hong Kong to establish a Chinese congregation was the Revd Thomas Stringer, who arrived in 1862. Two years later, a site on Gap Street�Xnow a part of Hollywood Road�Xwas secured for a church. St. Stephen's was opened there in 1866. It was hoped that the new congregation would have the support of the Christian old boys from St. Paul's, but they showed little interest.
Stringer left after three years and his successor, the Revd Charles Warren, was also in Hong Kong for only three years. Their short tenures impeded the proper growth of the congrega-tion in spite of the continuity provided by their Chinese assistant, the Revd Lo Sam-yuen. The congregation only began to show sub-stantial growth under the pastorate of the Revd Kwong Yat-sau (Matthew Fong), who served from 1883 to 1902. In 1888, St. Stephen's was moved to Pok Fu Lam Road and today is on Bonham Road.
The Church Missionary Society worked intermittently on the Kowloon peninsula at Yau Ma Tei, Evangelical work was begun in 1890 but was soon discontinued. It was resumed from 1894 to 1898 and out of this work All Saints' Church was established at Ho Man Tin in 1903. In 1898, the Anglicans organized mission work at Ping Shan in the New Territories, not far from Yuen Long.
The Revd Charles Gutzlaff, while serving as the Chinese Secre-tary to the Hong Kong Government, organized the Chinese Union in 1844. This was an important means of broadcasting Christian ideas in China and planted seeds which contributed to the Chris-tian element in the ideology of the Taiping movement. To assist him in his work, Gutzlaff recruited young men from the Basel, Rhenish and Berlin Missionary Societies. After a brief stay in Hong Kong, they were sent into the interior of Kwangtung Pro-vince. When the second Sino-British war broke out, these mis-sionaries sought refuge in Hong Kong. While there, they gathered a group of followers for worship. When peace came, the mis-sionaries returned to their stations on the mainland but the Revd Rudolph Lechler of the Basel Missionary Society remained in Hong Kong. Under his direction, a church was built for a Hakka-speaking congregation in 1863 on High Street in Sai Ying Pun.
A church was built for Hakka settlers at Shau Kei Wan in 1861. Another group of Hakkas formed a congregation at Sham Shui Po in Kowloon in 1886 and yet another at Lung Yeuk Tau near Fanling in the New Territories in 1898. All of these congregations are now part of the Tsung Tsin Church in Hong Kong, the successor of the Basel Missionary Society.
The Rhenish Missionary Society established a church in 1898 for members who had moved to Hong Kong from their country churches in Kwangtung Province. They occupied a site on Bonham Road that now lies just east of the University of Hong Kong.
The mission board of the Congregational Church, in response to appeals from Chinese converts at their California mission, sent the Revd Charles Hager to Hong Kong in 1883. He organized a con-gregation in a building rented on Bridges Street for use as a school and residence. One of the congregation's first members was Sun Yat-sen, then a student at Queen's College. About the turn of the century, a church was built on Ladder Street for this group, called the China Congregational Church�Xin Chinese, Kung Lei Tong.
The Wesleyan Methodists established a congregation in Hong Kong in 1884. Like the Rhenish Church, it was formed of mem-bers who had moved to Hong Kong from Kwangtung. After wor-shipping at a number of sites, the congregation built a church on Hennessy Road in Wan Chai in 1936.
Congregations are made up of people. The early Churches in Hong Kong were organized by missionaries, but to have a con-gregation they needed followers and assistants. The influence of the Church on people's lives is the theme of this book. A brief account follows of some of the Chinese who worked with the mis-sionaries to build the Hong Kong Church. In other chapters fuller details are given of the careers of some of those mentioned.
When the Revd I.J. Roberts, the first Protestant missionary to live in Hong Kong, came over from Macau, he was accompanied by an old, frail, and sickly follower named Chan. Before attaching himself to Roberts, Chan had been a member of a beggar group in Macau. He was baptized in the waters at Stanley village in June 1842, four months after his arrival, the first Chinese to be baptized on Hong Kong Island. Roberts moved to Canton in May 1844 and took Chan with him, but he died the following year. At that time Roberts paid him the following tribute, 'He has done me much assistance and has often made my heart glad that I came to China.'
Roberts' colleague, the Revd J.L. Shuck, took under his patron-age a young man named Julian Ahone or, to give him his Chinese name, Wei Ng. Julian had brought with him from the United States in 1843 a letter of introduction to the Baptist missionaries in Hong Kong from a congregation in Baltimore, Maryland, where he had been baptized and received as a member. After a time, Shuck's assistant began to act strangely. He went about the neigh-bourhood claiming to be a king seeking his queen. He was arrested for theft and given a public flogging; Shuck tried to rehabilitate him but was not successful.
When the Revd William Dean joined Roberts and Shuck in Hong Kong, he was accompanied by several converts he had made in Bangkok. One of these was killed in April 1843 when he inter-vened as a peacemaker in a street quarrel.
The Revd Elijah Bridgman of the American Board mission came over from Macau in 1843. He opened a small building in the Lower Bazaar as a chapel, school, and dispensary, though most of his time was devoted to the editing and publishing of the Chinese Repository. He had two assistants, Wei Akwong, the first student taken under the patronage of the Morrison Education Society, and Liang Tsin-tih, son of the first ordained Chinese evangelist, Liang A-fa.
Of the few remaining converts of the London Missionary Soci-ety station at Malacca, James Legge brought with him to Hong Kong in 1843 Ho Fuk-tong, Ho A-sam, and Kueh A-gong (other-wise known as Wat Ngong). Ho Fuk-tong was the first Chinese pastor ordained in Hong Kong and rendered years of valuable ser-vice to the congregation organized by the London mission. Ho A-sam had a block-cutting and print shop next to the Lower Bazaar Chapel of the mission and did evangelistic work in his spare time. Kueh A-gong was assistant and evangelist at the Medical Missionary Hospital on Morrison Hill.
The first Bishop of Victoria, the Anglican Bishop who founded St. Paul's College in 1851, brought with him from England a young Chinese, Chan Tai-kwong, whom he planned to prepare for holy orders. But, after a few years, the glint of gold became too allur-ing and Tai-kwong left the Bishop's care for a business career in the Chinese Bazaar, but he soon became bankrupt after over-extending himself as the opium monopolist.
The Bishop had the assistance of Lo Sam-yuen at St. Paul's Col-lege from 1850 to 1855. In the latter year, Lo Sam-yuen emigrated to Australia, where he served as a catechist in the goldfields under the Bishop of Melbourne. He returned to Hong Kong in 1862. The following year he was ordained a deacon. He assisted the Church Missionary Society agents in organizing and caring for St. Stephen's congregation until his retirement.
Lo Sam-yuen was succeeded at St. Stephen's by another returned Australian sojourner, Kwong Yat-sau, also known as Matthew Fong. Upon returning to Hong Kong in 1874, Kwong attached himself to the Anglicans but soon moved to assist in the work of the London Missionary Society congregation. From there, he re-turned to the Anglicans in 1883 when he was ordained a deacon. In the following year he became priest. He served at St. Stephen's until 1902, when he retired to Kowloon City.
The Revd Karl Friedrich August Gutzlaff�XAnglicized to Charles Gutzlaff�Xorganized the Chinese Union in June 1844. It had twenty-one members, all Chinese except for Gutzlaff and Roberts. Its purpose was to train men to distribute scriptures and tracts in all parts of China and to spread the Christian faith. The Chinese Union grew rapidly and within four years reported six hundred converts. When Gutzlaff visited Europe in 1849 to raise funds, he left the Revd T. Hamberg in charge of the Union. Ham-berg and other missionaries questioned the sincerity of the major-ity of the members of the Union. An investigation was held and many were dismissed. Hamberg reported that of two hundred members, fifty were opium-smokers and seventy to eighty had given false names and places of their work.
When Gutzlaff returned to Hong Kong in 1850, he tried to re-vitalize the Chinese Union, but he died the following year. Though his widow and the Revd R. Neumann, whom Gutzlaff had recruited from the Berlin Missionary Society, tried to keep the work going, when Neumann left in 1855 the Chinese Union ceased to exist.
From its members the Rhenish and Basel Missionary Societies inherited a few faithful workers. The Union did penetrate into China with the Christian message and literature. These had an in-fluence on some of the leaders of the Taiping movement.
Roman Catholic and Protestant missionaries brought with them the idea of Christendom and its correlative attitude towards those beyond Christendom.The concept of Christendom had a triple heri-tage: religiously it drew upon the Hebrew-Christian faith, cultur-ally it looked to Greece, and politically its model was the Roman Empire. Each strand contributed to the definition of the person beyond Christendom. From the religious standpoint he was the gentile infidel to be converted, culturally he was the barbarian to be civilized, and politically he was the enemy to be subdued. The imperialism of the nineteenth century added to these three objectives the economic incentive of commercial exploitation under the name of 'free trade'.
The missionary seldom freed himself from this understanding of those beyond Christendom. His primary objective was the evangel-ization of the heathen. He came to extend what he regarded as the civilizing benefits of Christendom. The Christian message of peace made him uneasy about excessive use of military force in the pro-cess of domination, but he rationalized its use as the wrath of God working for the salvation of souls.
The missionary brought these views to his work among the Chinese. Their religious practices were idolatrous, their customs were inferior, their morality was degrading, their intellect was stunted, and their educational system was outmoded. The mission-ary task was to convert, to civilize, to improve, and to educate. The relationship implicit in this task was that of superior-inferior. The missionary had something to give, his listeners and followers were expected to receive. The missionary was to set the example, the convert was to imitate. The missionary, who realized the dan-gers in this relationship, struggled to assist the Chinese Christians to arrive at maturity, equality, and independence.
It was a painful struggle. Once one had agreed with the criticism of old ideas and practices, become a follower, had been under instruction, and had accepted the tasks assigned, it was not easy to become creative, to assume leadership, to teach, and to direct. A reversal of roles and a transfer of power became necessary. Though such changes were difficult, they were inevitable.
The Chinese Church today is living in a different era. The con-cept of Christendom has lost its force; colonial imperialism is all but gone; there is a greater appreciation of values in cultural tradi-tions other than one's own. There are no missionaries, as such, in China; in Hong Kong, they are a dying breed.
The problem of relating to another culture had to be faced in the
early schools conducted by missionaries, particularly in those which provided an English-language education. The missionaries opened such schools because there was an urgent need for Chinese who could translate and write Christian literature. In addition, they hoped that some of their students, when converted, would continue their studies to prepare themselves as catechists, evangel-ists, and pastors.
In the early period of Protestant missions there were few, if any, theological, homiletic, or pastoral books in Chinese. This meant that students needed to be able to read English if they were to meet the standards the missionaries regarded as necessary for workers in the Church. The missionaries had a low opinion of tra-ditional Chinese educational methods and questioned the value of a comprehensive knowledge of the Chinese classics and the ability to write essays in the traditional style.
The missionaries wished their students to have a knowledge of world and biblical history, mathematics, natural and moral philo-sophy, and a scientific understanding of the world. It was hoped that they could be trained to approach these subjects with a question-ing mind. In short, they wished to produce students who would have enough ability in the Chinese language to translate from it and write literature in it. Yet, at the same time, they were to be versed in the English language and have a knowledge of subjects considered necessary in a Western-style education.
The results of their educational efforts were not what they planned. They created a man who stood between two cultures, a man who was not altogether at home in either. He was not wholly in the Chinese model, nor was he altogether Western. This dual aspect of his thought and outlook enabled him to fill a needed place in the meeting of the Chinese nation with foreigners promot-ing trade and commerce. The foreign merchant needed a Chinese to supervise the Chinese side of his business. Chinese merchants trading with foreigners needed a Chinese who understood the foreigner and who could speak his language. The Governments of both China and Hong Kong needed translators and interpreters. In Hong Kong, the colonial Government needed a group of Chinese who could advise them about policies affecting the Chinese under their jurisdiction. Beginning with Commissioner Lin's seizure of the opium of foreign merchants at Canton and continuing through the succeeding years of the Ch'ing dynasty, Chinese officials needed the advice and assistance of Chinese who
were well acquainted with foreign practices and ways of thought. The English-educated Chinese found themselves in demand on the China coast.
This group of Chinese interpreters, compradores, advisers to officials and Government, and men in various professions created a distinct culture in the China coast cities. Their way of life was a mixture of their Chinese inheritance overlaid with an under-standing of Western ways and thoughts.
The emergence and functions of this new type of middleman in China in the later part of the Ch'ing dynasty have been the subject of numerous studies. Most of these have considered the activities of these middlemen within China and their role in its industrial and commercial modernization and in the reform/revolutionary move-ment. This volume deals with these developments from the stand-point of Hong Kong.
Some of the earliest English-language schools on the China coast were at Hong Kong. The students trained in these schools were among the first to beome middlemen within newly evolving relationships between foreigners and Chinese on the China coast. Many of these students remained in Hong Kong as interpreters, translators, compradores, and advisers to government officials. Others went to China to serve the same functions. Some went overseas. There they became links between their host country and the overseas Chinese communities. Of the several scores of stu-dents who went through the schools before 1860 not all rose to positions of leadership. For some, there are few records of their subsequent careers and they have slipped back into the mists of history.
In Hong Kong, the students of the English-language mission schools became a significant element in the emergence of a Chinese elite. Just as the students and other elites in Hong Kong adapted themselves to the ways of colonial administrators, so the Church adapted itself to the special conditions of a colony. At the same time, it made certain adjustments to Chinese cultural values and social patterns. These adjustments were a part of the struggle of the Church towards maturity and independence.

PARTI MISSION SCHOOLS AND THEIR PRODUCTS: A NEW TYPE OF CHINA COAST MIDDLEMAN

1 The Morrison Education Society and the Moulding of its Students
THE Morrison Education Society was formed by foreign merchants at Canton in 1835 in memory of the Revd Robert Morrison, the first Protestant missionary to China. The Revd Samuel R. Brown was the first principal of the Society's school, which was opened in 1839 at Macau and moved to Hong Kong in 1842. After Brown left in 1846 to return to the United States for reasons of health, the school continued under Mr William A. Macy for three years and then closed.
The Revd Samuel Brown was an educationalist. Before being chosen by the Morrison Education Society to come to China, he had taught at the New York Institution for the Deaf and Dumb. He was attracted to his new position by the challenge of teaching students of another culture and language. As he studied his task he formulated certain ideas and procedures by which he hoped to achieve his missionary objectives.
Within the context of his own historical period and theological understanding, Brown attempted to introduce the type of education which would best fulfil his missionary expectations. This involved an evaluation of the traditional Chinese system of education, the relation of this system to Chinese society, culture and religion, and the effect of his educational programme on his students in their identification of themselves as Chinese. Traditional Chinese education was in conflict with the Western idea of education as a training of the mind for creative thought operating within a world view of progress. The missionary educator and his Chinese stu-dents were caught in this conflict.
The missionary regarded the conservative nature of Chinese culture as a sign of backwardness. Western education, he hoped, would free the mind of China, it would open it to the 'benefits' of Western civilization, it would enlighten the prevailing darkness.
Brown's Philosophy of Education
Samuel R. Brown defined his task as the education of the 'Chris-tian man', but a Chinese Christian man. He did not want to remove his students from the stream of Chinese life: 'All those whom we educate will return to their own people, and be associated with them in after life, and while they will be improved (we hope) in many respects, they will still be Chinese.'1 Brown wished his students to remain Chinese as a necessary requirement for their role as transmitters of Western knowledge in Chinese forms. For them to be able to perform this function they needed a thorough knowledge of the literature of China. Without this knowledge, they would not have the tools to convey the 'benefits' of Western learning, nor would they command respect among their own peo-ple, where literary ability was the road to eminence and distinc-tion. Brown's interest in the traditional literature of China lay not in its inherent value as the foundation for a way of life valid in its own right, but as a necessary 'tool' for the introduction of another approach to life.
In his review of the traditional texts used in Chinese schools, Brown found little of educational value other than their use as a vehicle for the memorization of characters and an understanding of the structure of the language.2 He viewed the traditional method of studying the Chinese classics as a journey across an arid desert of ancient lore though he acknowledged that there were a few green patches of enlightened thought. Having made the trip, the student might then go back and try to understand the meaning of what he had memorized and develop a style imitative of the books he had studied. The purpose of Chinese education, accord-ing to Brown, was to acquire a knowledge of the language. The method prevented creative intellectual development.
The mind of the nation has been systematically taught not to think, and the reasoning faculty, like their written language, has long ago been arrested in its improvement so that what another has said of Egypt, is as true of this country,�Xand China 'is a petrification'.3
Brown brought a dynamic Western understanding of society and thought to his evaluation of Chinese education. Its end result, in his opinion, was to foster an enervating conservatism and to im-pede the development of the search for truth. It sustained a static social order in which 'manners, customs, even opinions, have been about equally unvarying from age to age'. It produced 'industrious and quiet servants of the state'. Repressing the spirit of spon-taneous enquiry, it created 'peaceable machines'. He was not able to appreciate a system that preserved a culture which stressed the primacy of harmonious relationships between individuals, the so-cial orders, and society and the cosmos. He came from a tradition where education was directed towards fostering activity in terms of abstract 'truths', rather than sustaining the delicate balance of an ordered cosmos. It was the self-sufficiency of China, its unwill-ingness to change, its rejection of new ideas from the West that irritated the foreigner. Brown sensed that to 'open up' China, its traditional mode of education must be supplanted by one which would foster independent, critical thought. The subsequent course of events, particularly as influenced by his students, proved the correctness of Brown's analysis.
Brown was interested in the structure of language. Before com-ing to China, as a teacher in the New York Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, he had been involved in basic problems of language communication. He knew that there was a reciprocal relation be-tween language and basic thought patterns. The Chinese language was structured to express the thought of the people. As long as education was confined to the traditional material the language fulfilled its function, but Brown was interested in introducing new ideas into China. He wished the thought of the Chinese 'to diverge a little from the beaten track, to take in a wider range of objects, to become familiar with new truths'. This would require a new vocabulary. Only someone thoroughly imbued with the delicate nuances of a language can coin new words for it. One of the pur-poses of the Morrison Education Society should be to train a body of men 'who have been educated through the medium of a foreign tongue, and thereby gained a knowledge of the new facts that call for new words to represent them, and at the same time have re-ceived a good Chinese education'.4
Brown was sensitive to the importance of language as a key to
mutual understanding between cultures. He understood the neces-
sity for the Western teacher of the Chinese to have a competent mastery of the Chinese language. Good education arises from the teacher understanding the minds of those he instructs. 'Language is the portrait of the mind in action, and he who would be familiarly acquainted with it must become qualified to judge of its picture with the skill of an artist.' If language is the key to understanding the mind within a homogeneous culture and language group, then it is indispensible for a proper understanding between differing groups.
It is because this attainment is so rare that there is so much misconception and ignorance respecting the peculiar feelings, prejudices, habits, and history of the Chinese. We meet them day after day, but our interviews respect the most palpable and common-place things, while in other points, our minds and theirs are widely removed from mutual contact. There is little or no play of sympathies between us.5
Brown believed that the quality of the education undertaken by Westerners for the Chinese would count more than the quantity they educated. His objectives were a nation-wide change in the centuries-old pattern of Chinese education, and an arousing and awakening of China from its 'long hibernation'. The means would be effected through a handful of scholars trained in the best of Chinese lore and the best of Occidental learning. 'We can do much to inspire some individuals with new activity, and make them powerfully react upon the slumbering multitude.'6 Brown lived to watch his students play a direct role in the opening of China to Western education, medicine, business methods, and technology. Their changed minds were enlisted in the 'self-strengthening' of China. The scholar-official class trained in the traditional Chinese manner turned to them for the new�Xthe ways of the West.
The Effect of Brown's Educational Methods on his Chinese Students
In what specific ways were the students of Brown prepared for the role they played in adult life? What particular influences shaped and moulded them so that their outlook and ways of thinking were different from those of other Chinese? Were they able to remain within the stream of Chinese life even though Brown's objective was to inspire them with 'new activity'?
These questions are not easy to answer. A part of their answer
lies in the inner area of the mind and spirit and the changes that may or may not have taken place there. But there are various sug-gestions of what happened to the Chinese boy who was educated in two different streams of educational material and method. Brown's description of entering students provides a background against which to judge the changes produced in the students by their residence and education at the school:
When a pupil is received into our school, he is young, ignorant of almost everything but the little affairs of his home, prejudiced against all that is not of Chinese origin, the dupe of superstition, trembling at the shaking of a leaf as if earth and air were peopled with malignant spirits, trained to worship all manner of senseless things, and in short having little but his mental constitution to assimilate him to the child of Christendom, or to form the nucleus of the development we would give him When looking for the first time on a class of new pupils ... there is usually almost a universal expression of passive inanity pervading them. The black but staring glassy eye, and open mouth, bespeak little more than stupid wondering gaze out of emptiness.7
The description, of course, is coloured by a lack of real under-standing of the underlying values of traditional Chinese social pat-terns; it emphasizes the effect of popular superstition upon the child. Brown also had a very poor opinion of the moral state of the Chinese boys. He thought every single one of them came into-the school with an 'utter disregard of truth, obscenity, and coward-liness'.
Brown considered that the entering student had no factual in-formation of his world. He was filled with 'a vast accumulation of false and superstitious notions', and was the victim of bad habits. As their teacher, Brown felt that his task was to rid their minds of superstitions and to replace these with truth, to develop a scientific attitude and arouse a curiosity towards the facts of the world, and to replace evil habits with good. It would be difficult to change the minds and values of the students. Brown asked whether:
It is [sic] possible to quicken the minds into a healthy activity�Xto awaken in them a relish for inquiry and discovery�Xto change their present va-cancy into busy thought? Is it possible to transform these beings, who have grown up hitherto in the impressible [sic] and formative period of their lives, under a false and defective training, into enlightened Christian men?8
Difficult as the task might be, he was eager to try and change
them: 'For this purpose they are sent here, and the trial must be made. Here are the subjects; now for the mode of treatment.'9 The place to begin was in the affections of the boys. Their confi-dence must be won. Their prejudices against the 'foreign devils' must be overcome. Brown was sure that kind treatment would soon meet with a ready response.
Even the physical setting for the education of the boys would have its effect on their pattern of life. The comparative spacious-ness of the quarters provided for the boys must have been in con-trast with the crowded conditions of their homes. It served to accustom them to a different pattern of life from the one into which they had been born. When the school moved to Hong Kong, each boy had his own separate room. Brown felt that this arrange-ment would encourage better morals, simplify housekeeping problems, provide privacy for spiritual meditation, and cultivate self-respect in the student.
For the Chinese lad brought up in the congested quarters of a poor Chinese home, the opportunity to be master of his own domain with its attendant responsibilities was a drastic change. Under crowded conditions the Chinese had not developed the same type of housekeeping order made possible by the more spa-cious accommodation to which their Western teacher was accus-tomed. Brown found that occasional visits to the rooms of the boys were sufficient to correct 'any slovenliness or negligence' that did not conform to his New England standards.
An opportunity for privacy would also be in striking contrast to the Chinese home-life of the boys. While contemplation was a tra-ditional Chinese value, it was usually thought of as a retreat to the quiet of nature or intense concentration which would remove ex-ternal distractions in the midst of social activity. The opportunity for quiet withdrawal to a private chamber was the privilege of the wealthy.
The boys had constant opportunity to observe the manners and conventional polite social forms of Western society. Mr and Mrs Brown considered the boys to be a part of their family. They were welcomed into the family circle, which reflected the best of small-town New England society. The school was the object of frequent visits by people from government, military, and commercial circles in Hong Kong. Teas were held for visiting dignitaries. The stu-dents had ample opportunity to observe the ritual social forms of Western society, which were in many respects in marked contrast
to Chinese etiquette, and sometimes in outright violation of it. In their association with foreigners the boys were expected to adopt Western social customs. They were to be as polite and well-mannered as the students of any New England academy or British public school. The training was effective in moulding a different social being. In 1845, one of the boys was sent to Shanghai to serve as interpreter in the British Consulate. One of his fellow passen-gers reported on the boy's ability to fit in easily among Westerners: 'The boy will make friends wherever he goes. He won the esteem of all on board.'10 This lad may well have been Tong A-chick, as he was one of the two boys sent to Shanghai in 1845. In 1852, while in California, he represented the Chinese community of Califor-nia, presenting a memorial on their behalf to Governor Bigler at Sacramento. Here he was wined and dined at the Governor's mansion.11 The knowledge of European manners he had acquired at the school in Hong Kong prepared him to fit into the Western social and political world.
The close-knit family community fostered at the school tended to break some of the natural attachments of the student to his own home. The students would also be influenced by the attitudes their parents had towards their school life and the type of education they were receiving. What was the reaction of the students' parents to the English education their sons received? At first they were suspicious. The only parents willing to place their boys under the charge of Westerners were the very poor, or those in some way connected with the missionaries or the foreign patrons of the school, or parents who had been observant enough to realize that a knowledge of English paid well in the business circles of Canton, Macau, and Hong Kong.
Yung Wing, a student of the Morrison Education Society School, in recollection, had difficulty in understanding how his parents could have so broken with customary Chinese practice as to send him in 1835, at the age of 7, to the school conducted by Mrs Gutzlaff in Macau.12
I can only account for the departure thus taken on the theory that as foreign intercourse with China was just beginning to grow, my parents, anticipating that it might soon assume the proportions of a tidal wave, thought it worthwhile to take time by the forelock and put one of their sons to learning English that he might become one of the advanced inter-preters and have a more advantageous position from which to make his way into the business and diplomatic world.13
If Yung Wing's parents were attracted by the possibility of English-language education as a means for economic and social advancement, his own personal experience reinforced this ex-pectation.
Yung Wing did not stay long at Mrs Gutzlaffs school, for she soon discontinued the experiment of a mixed school and the boys were sent away. He returned home and, after his father's death in 1840, the family had a difficult time making ends meet. One of the ways of achieving this was to send Yung Wing at harvest time to glean in the rice fields. He was usually accompanied by his sister. One day she told the head reaper that her brother could speak, read, and write English. This aroused the man's curiosity to hear a strange tongue, as he had never heard the 'Red Hair Men's talk' before. Yung Wing was bashful, but he was urged on by his sister, who tried to bribe him with the suggestion that the reaper might give him a large bundle of rice if he would perform. The boy yielded and repeated the alphabet. A crowd of workers gathered round and 'stood in vacant silence, with mouths wide open, grin-ning with evident delight'.14 The reaper was true to his word and rewarded the 12-year-old boy with several sheaves of rice. Thus, early in life, Yung Wing learned that a knowledge of English could be profitable.
The boys of the Morrison Education Society School were well motivated to participate in the learning opportunity offered by the school. Factors which might have made them resistant to the new ways and thoughts to which they were exposed were gradually re-moved. One of the pupils who had been in the school for more than six years wrote an essay in 1846 on the topic, 'Why do you wish to get an education?'. The essay illustrates the original motivation of the boys and the manner in which this changed under the type of education they received.
The object led me to come [sic] was to learn English, so that I might make money by dealing with the English, and I had no hope of becoming a scholar. But this was a low object when we look at the desire of those people who support us. The people in Christian countries look at this vast empire full of all sorts of wickedness, a land where the name of Christ is not known, with compassion and pray for it. ... The only hope they cher-ish is that China may be enlightened and turn to a Christian country, and that its people may share the blessing which they themselves enjoy.
Now this is the hope that all Christians have, and shall we who are the objects of their hope, waste the money which they subscribe in desiring
merely that we may get a fortune by means of the education which we receive in this school, and make their ardent desire of no effect? We ought to know better than that, after being under the instruction of a Christian teacher for years. It is our duty to learn to be good, and then with all our power to do or help others to do good.15
The boys were aware of the changes that had taken place in their lives. In an essay written by a student in the second class in 1846 we read: 'If you convey a heathen boy to a placefilled by Christian and delightful boys, he will soon be like one of them; and if you transmit a Christian boy to a heathen village, it is certainly true he will soon work the same deeds as they.'16
The school gave the students a new perspective. It provided them with the dynamism of Western thought which drives the mind in the quest for knowledge and 'truth' for its own sake. In his report to the Trustees of the school for 1844, Brown states that the boys' education had awakened their minds to question the given, to habits of observation and reflection, and to a drive to know the truth of a matter.17 They were beginning to adopt a Western approach to knowledge, which leads to the scientific method. Thus, their structures of thought were changing.
In morality they were coming under the tensions created by the concept of a supernatural Deity who sets forth absolute ethical standards. As Brown states it: 'They were once without God They now know that there is but one living and true God'. With knowledge of a super-mundane God came also an awareness of the Will of this God as a standard for conduct. 'Conscience has become enlightened�X Its existence was at first scarcely percep-tible, of course it could serve but little to regulate their actions. It seldom caused them shame or remorse.' Now they had come under the rule of a demanding and judging God. This awakened in them 'the sentiment of duty, and reverence for God and his laws'. Whether this was an improvement each must decide for himself; at least in the opinion of Brown it made them less Chinese. He had instilled into them Western attitudes towards truth and falsity as based on the abstract concept of an absolute 'Truth' rather than the Chinese understanding that abstract truth is subordinate to the necessity of maintaining harmonious relations between people. This strain of 'absolutism' in the education of the boys was the product of Brown's own training in a nineteenth-century theology weighted on the side of a Puritan legalism. It sharpened the dicho-tomy between the Western conception of truth and the subordina-
tion of the place of truth in Chinese ethics to the maintenance of harmonious personal relationships. Though Puritan legalism no longer has a strong influence in theology, the tension between a Western and Chinese understanding of the ethics of 'truth' is not yet altogether resolved within the context of the Chinese Church.
Brown had overheard students who had noticed an instance 'of falsehood or low cunning' among Chinese, say 'with a look of dis-gust, "that is Chinese"'. The boys had learned the 'value' of truth, and Brown expected that when they left the school, they would be 'men of truth'. It would be of great value to the foreign community to have Chinese who were different because they had been trained in Western values.
To have a class of Chinese young men, on whom we may depend for truth, even though partially educated, living among us in our public and private offices, will assuredly be worth to the foreign community all that their education costs. Nor will it be to our comfort and advantage alone, for such a class will influence others that have not enjoyed equal advantages with themselves.18
Brown saw the influence of the boys as not only of value for the foreign community but also for China.
The good implanted in the minds of a few will not die with them, but by its self-propagating virtue, will be diffused more and more widely as time advances. In addition to this, if those who are first sent forth into the world from the school, shall, any of them, go not as they came, idolaters and full of all manner of superstition, but changed by the transforming influence of our holy religion, happier still will it be for us, for them and for their country.19
Brown's pious sentiments were prophetic of the important role the students would play, not particularly in the total evangelization of China as he probably hoped, but in the introduction of Western thought to China.
What effect did education in the English language and the use of Western educational methods have upon the minds of Chinese students? How did these affect their view of their cultural heritage? A series of letters and essays from the students of the school throws some light on these questions. Most of these were written between the years 1840 and 1846 by students of the first class.20 The subject-matter covers a variety of topics, but the letters pro-vide us with material which offers glimpses into the effect on the students of their education and environment. Inasmuch as this first class of the Morrison Education Society School included
Yung Wing, the initiator of the Chinese Educational Mission, Wong Shing, one of the pioneers in Chinese newspaper journal-ism, Wong Fun, the first Chinese graduate of a Western medical school, and Tong A-chick, later associated with the China Mer-chants' Steam Navigation Company and other business and in-dustrial enterprises in China, what hints we can get from these letters on the mental development of these students in the forma-tive years of their youth will help us to understand the important role they played in the introduction of Western ideas and tech-niques into China in the second half of the nineteenth century.
In June 1840, the boys wrote letters to Mr Brown's former pupils in the New York Institution for the Deaf and Dumb. This was their first attempt to write a letter in English. They had been studying English for six months. The letters, of course, are very simple and reflect a beginner's struggle with the English language, but they show that several of the students had made rapid progress in English. Two of the letters were printed in the New York Ob-server and they both express the boys' happiness and gratitude at being in the school under the charge of Mr Brown. One of the writers, Auseule,21 must have been particularly impressed with the close family atmosphere for he mentioned the Browns' 4-year-old daughter (perhaps he missed his own little sisters) and with youthful directness said, 'I love Mrs. Brown'. They describe the typical school day, emphasizing that they wash on arising and play in the garden, where they pick flowers and 'catch butterflies and bugs to give to Mr. Brown', who puts them in boxes. The influence of religious instruction is particularly evident. Each boy wrote a sentence or two regarding God as the creator of all things. 'God makes grow flowers can smell. Dead flowers cannot smell.' Awai emphasized that though God made the world 'one day did not make because it is Sabbath day'. On this day they read the Bible and 'we with Mrs. Brown and Mr. Browne and Mr. Abeel and Mr. Milne in parlor pray to God'.
The boys were absorbing, or at least reflecting, the 'missionary line'. For an 11-year-old boy, Awai sounds very pious when he writes: T want to learn the Bible because God spake all these words. I had not Bible in my father's house. My countrymen have no Bible. I want to teach them learn the Bible.'22 Already, the mark of division was becoming evident. The boy in the mission school had the Bible, neither his family nor his countrymen had it. Therefore, he had a mission: to give them something they did not
have; in this case, the Bible. Thus, early in their education the idea was implanted that China was deficient in something of value that the West could provide, and it was the duty of the 'enlightened' Chinese to transmit it.
Though there may have been a degree of prompting and help in the composition of these letters, they do reflect the impressions a new life and association had upon an 11- or 12-year-old Chinese boy: family life, the chore of keeping clean, play periods, and the impact of religious instruction and observance.
The next group of letters show an even deeper rift between the boys and their Chinese background. These letters are dated 14 January 1842 and are, of course, more mature, though they may not represent the true independent thinking of the boys. The let-ters reflect the same criticism of Chinese education that their teacher set forth in his annual report to the Trustees of the school for the year 1842. Yung Wing wrote somewhat prophetically in the light of his later role in the promotion of the Chinese Educational Mission:
The Chinese have schools, but they learn but few things, and their learn-ing is different from that of other nations. They only repeat their lessons, without thinking or understanding them. When they have learned five or six years, their teacher explains to them a little out of the book. I think there is not one school in China as good as the schools in the United States or in England. There are a great many Chinese boys and girls not edu-cated as in your country, because the Chinese are stingy fellows. That is the reason they can't have good education.23
The process of providing a different criterion for moral conduct was under way. Brown commented that 'in manners and habits they are much changed, and their convictions of what is right and wrong are clear and manifest'. This is illustrated by Tong A-chick's reference to the delinquencies of a schoolmate: 'When the school was formed it had five boys Afterwards eldest of them, whose name was Aling, went home, because he did a very bad thing and committed a great sin against God, as in the law of Moses and the prophets.' Lee Kan, writing on Chinese schools, also reflected a growing awareness of 'sin'. He said that in Chinese schools the students sometimes 'worship their idol Confucius�X They think it will make them more understanding. Although they worship and serve it, it cannot help them at all, and besides it is a sin against the true God'.24
The nineteenth-century Protestant theological emphasis on man as sinner and the need for repentance produced a training that emphasized an inflexible Holy Will in terms of law and an aware-ness of guilt at its violation. Guilt for the Chinese was not a result of disobedience to laws given by a transcendental God, but a result of the violation of human relationships, particularly regarding the obedience due to superiors in family, school, or government.
In May 1842, Chow Wan wrote to the mother of Mr Brown in the United States. The letter was quite critical of his Chinese coun-trymen. He had been influenced by the missionary reaction to the difficulties encountered in tract distribution:
The English and American have made a great many Chinese books about Jesus Christ, and give them to the Chinese. Sometimes when walking round about the streets, some men ask them, and they give them to them. By and by the Chinese men look at them, and find out about Jesus Christ, and God in the book, and mock, and laugh. Sometimes the Chinese tear them into shreds, and burn them up. Some of them go to a distance with the books, and meet with Chinese soldiers, and they are beaten.25
Chow Wan probably shared the general Chinese view of the cor-ruption of many of the mandarins. He described the pomp and ceremony involved in the public appearance of a high Chinese of-ficial and the deference required on the part of the populace: 'The Tso-Tong sits in a sedan chair, and all the men go before him through the streets, and everybody stands up. If they don't do so, they beat them with whips.' He gave examples of the unequal judgments made by officials. If an opium smuggler was caught, large sums of money were extracted from him if he was rich. He was then set free. If he was poor, he was put in prison for life or beheaded. There is little doubt that the ordinary Chinese person resented the abuse of power and the corruption that characterized the Chinese Government at this time, but it is doubtful if they would have so sweepingly condemned the Chinese people as does Chow Wan after his two-year exposure to Western views in the Morrison Education Society School: 'The Chinese are proud, and easily provoked, and envy each other, and everyone is bad. They care for nothing but money.' This criticism of the Chinese was also expressed by Yung Wing, who also wrote in a letter to Mrs Brown: 'In our country the people are so proud that they swell up as balloons.'26
The theme of administrative corruption is taken up again in an essay written in 1846 on 'Chinese Government'.27 The essay ana-lysed the Chinese political structure, the hierarchy of government bureaucracy, and the corrupt practices of the official class from top to bottom.
Indeed the hearts of the Chinese are comparatively dark and foolish; and most Chinese officers are vicious, cruel and selfish; the only object they pursue is wealth. It is a very fine thing to have wealth, but we ought to get it by fair dealings; but on the contrary they are out of the true way and use unjust means to get it.
The student was sensitive to Western opinion of China's Govern-ment and expressed the hope for a better day.
It is lamented that such things occur throughout the whole country. I re-gret very much that the Chinese officers are so ignorant of virtue and all other excellent attributes of government. I hope that they will soon be-come better, and that justice, liberty, and happiness may be promoted and diffused over the country; and every individual in the empire will exhibit his civilization so that our nation may deserve commendation of all others.28
Another set of essays was written at the request of the Corres-ponding Secretary of the Society for the first public examination of the school by its patrons and Trustees. The essays were all con-cerned with the difference between Chinese and English educa-tion. The estimates of the students reflect statements made by Mr Brown in his annual reports to the Trustees of the school.
English education covered a broader range of subjects than Chinese education. 'The English learn of many useful things, such as astronomy, geometry, algebra, true religion, and many other things that I cannot mention to you now.'29 In contrast, Chinese instruction taught 'only about Confucius, how he acted in his life-time, and [how] his followers praised him'. Chinese education was directed towards acquiring the skills necessary to read and write in the classical style. This was entirely different from colloquial modes of expression. In their Chinese studies the boys encoun-tered an antiquated and unfamiliar style: 'In the poetical classic I find many words which I never heard people speak in my life, and I believe they are seldom used through the Empire, except when they want to make a dictionary.' Not only did the classics concen-trate on an uncommon style removed from daily life, but they fos-tered an attitude which disdained manual labour: 'The Chinese say a learned man should never do anything that is laborious, as a common man does.'
The crux of the difference between Chinese and English was that of social conservatism and stability in contrast to a continuing quest for truth which fostered change and progress.
But the great difference between the English and Chinese is this: the Chinese look back into ancient times, but the English are always looking to the present and the future, to discover the truth, therefore the Chinese are always about the same, while the English become better and better.30
In one of these 1842 essays the idea that the Westerner came with values that China lacked is expressed in a somewhat more sophisticated style than in the letter written by Awai in 1840, but the typical Western sense of benevolent 'mission' is the same:
The Chinese have no Bible and they do not know Jesus Christ who cre-ated the universe. They are full of superstitions and ignorance; besides their government rules with injustice. How glad we ought to be when a light came from the other side of the world, not called here by our own countrymen, but sent by foreigners to enlighten our minds, and clear off the superstitions from us.31
A more practical appreciation of the significance of Western knowledge for the future of China is expressed in an essay written in 1846:
Knowledge is important to every individual, and it is especially so to us. We are born in a country where science is not much known, and art is in a rude state, and the modern improvements of the West are unknown. In our time China is open to free trade with foreigners, and the eye of China is open, and perceives that there are some things good in the Fan-qui which she did not know, and she watches them carefully, waiting to see in them that which has made them so superior to herself. If we had not the opportunity of being educated, we might hope in vain to improve our nation.32
These remarks by one of the students are of special interest be-cause they set the context within which the students were to play their future role in furnishing China with knowledge and tech-niques of the West in its policy of 'self-strengthening' initiated after 1861 as a response to the superior power of the West.
A group of essays were written by the first class in 1843 on the history of Hong Kong. These show that the boys were learning their history from the Western point of view. They had been in-doctrinated with the Western rationalization of the British seizure of Chinese territory and its pressured cession: 'This island is safe place to the English, a place governed by their own laws. They can carry on trade with China, in which it seems an outlet of their manufactures. I hope this island will become more dignified by spreading over the country light and knowledge.'33 Another stu-dent was more specific as to how 'light and knowledge' would spread: 'I hope that through the influence of pious missionaries, the Christian religion will be spread over the island produce the fruits of holiness.'
At the time of the arrival of Caleb Gushing, the United States Commissioner to China, one of the students, Lee Kan, expressed the hope that the visit would result in the opening of China to further trade relations with Western powers:
I have heard of Mr. Cushing who came to this country from America to make a treaty with the emperor for your country, and I hope the emperor will be very glad to have foreigners come here to trade with his own sub-jects. If so, I think this country will have an extensive commerce, and that it will be a great advantage to China, America, England, and other coun-tries This country has been shut up a great many years.34
The students were repeating nineteenth-century Western political and religious interpretations of the role of China and the West.
Western-style education implanted an appreciation of the prac-tical values of science. Wong Shing, who later managed the print-ing establishment of the London Missionary Society in Hong Kong and who in 1872 was invited to set up a printing plant with movable type at the Tsungli Yamen (Chinese Foreign Office in Peking), writing as a student in 1842, noted the value of geometry and algebra. They formed the basis of navigation, the art of drawing and building, and the essence of geography.
These sciences teach us the general truths of natural things and how to reason, so that we by these may discover a great many other truths ... God gives us ... a mind to cultivate All knowledge helps us to think of God's mighty power, goodness, and to serve him better. Therefore every man ought to study and learn I hope when we boys grow up to be men, we shall teach boys, in the same manner as Mr. Brown treats us.35
In 1864, Wong Shing was called to Shanghai to take charge of the foreign language school that was opened there by the Chinese Government. He also used his ability in science and mechanics to produce, in collaboration with Wang T'ao, a Chinese work en-titled Drawings on Gunnery. The dependence of the scholar-official class on a handful of Western-educated Chinese for a knowledge of Western technology is illustrated by the following account by Wang T'ao of the manner in which the book on gunnery was pro-duced:
One day Hwuang Seng chanced to tell me that the supervisor Ting Jih-ch'ang who was then at Soochow, under instruction from Li Hung-chang had often written inviting him for a visit. The Supervisor was then in charge of the arsenal, and guns produced there were very good I told Hwuang Seng that the military situation was now tense and that what was needed to suppress the rebels was good weapons. Why did you not offer what you knew to him? This might be a help to him Hwuang Seng took out a few English books and the five translated pieces on smelting, moulding, installation for furnaces, boring of barrels and gun-powder. Then he took out various tables of survey and a supplement on the management of guns. I rephrased them, added something here, and deleted something there, all based on my own limited knowledge and what I had learnt recently. All the arguments came from my humble mind, but the theory of the resistance of air and wind was borrowed from the English books.36
Wong Shing not only profited from the scientific aspect of his education but was also affected by the religious influence the students experienced in the school. In several successive annual reports Brown refers to the gratifying religious and moral de-velopment of Wong Shing. This serious side of his nature is evi-denced by a composition he wrote in 1844. It was an assignment occasioned by the death of the wife of the Revd Dyer Ball, an American missionary. A few sentences extracted from the essay will give the tenor of this 18-year-old youth's view of death:
Death is the door between this world and the other world. When the idea of death comes to our minds, how solemnly it affects us How dreadful when death occurs to a man who loves not God, for he knows that there is no forgiveness in the grave, and his conscience tells him that he has been sinning all the time, and he feels that he must suffer the punishment of that great God�X Shall we sin against that almighty God without ceas-ing? O stop, stop, let us think before we go any farther. Can we have a seat in heaven by this sinful life.37
These words would have been quite appropriate in an old-fashioned New England pulpit.
It is interesting, however, to contrast this view of death with an essay written by one of the students in 1845 on 'Notions of the Chinese in regard to a future state'.38 The essay is an interesting exposition of popular religion in China. To the Western observer it has the appearance of an accurate description. It described the Chinese conception of 'fieri, the future world above the earth, and lyin chieri, the place of shades. The various Chinese holidays were described with their religious implications. He mentioned the practice of 'buying the souls out of Hell' and of the use of sor-ceresses to call back the souls of the dead. The essayist pointed to the Buddhist influence on Chinese popular religion in the form of the transmigration of souls and the ascetic, contemplative prac-tices of priests and nuns.
Though they spend their life in doing so, alas they are hopeless and woe to them surely. Because the benignant Creator has given us the precious Bible, which is likened to a guide-board, which shows to the traveler the way which is safe and that which is dangerous.
After his training by Western Christians, he saw no value in the magic-oriented popular religion of China for he had been taught that there is but one way to heaven.
The use of the Scriptures as a guide to salvation was the theme of an essay by another student:39 'If a person is ignorant of the Scriptures, he cannot find the true light which will guide him to the way of salvation. He will always be in the state of gloom, and not know what will become of his soul.' Since the Scriptures 'teach the way of salvation, and true religion will support us under the trials of this world, and prepare us for that which is to come', the trans-lation of the Scriptures into Chinese and the promotion of their circulation by missionaries was essential.
I hope that the Scriptures will be openly circulated among the Chinese, for hundreds of millions are going mad after their dumb idols. From these considerations we must rank the effect of Holy Scriptures among the vital interests of mankind.
The hours in the school schedule devoted to the study of the Bible and its explanation, as well as morning and evening prayer and Sunday worship, had impressed upon the boys the primacy of the Bible in the Protestant tradition.
An essay by a student in 1846 illustrates the impression that the study of the catechism made on his mind. The topic is the first question of the Westminster Catechism: 'What is the chief end of man?' The essay is another example of Puritan theology:
As we are eager to supply our mind with temporal knowledge, we should be more eager to store up that of spiritual concerns, involving our duties to God, and his appointments for us �X Men are created to accomplish the object predestinated by him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will ... Life is short... Let us learn to prize the hours�Xlearn to esteem life as it deserves. It is not bestowed in vain, but to serve the purposes of God. He has determined to glorify himself, and has so planned the universe, that everything should work for his own glory. He has created man to be his special instrument to execute this work.40
In place of the balanced cosmic order of traditional Chinese thought in which the duty of each was to preserve a given harmony as expressed in nature, social relationships, and political life, the student had received a theology of predestination in which a Deity greater than the cosmic order controls the affairs of His creation so that it contributes to His glory. The primary duty of man is con-formity to God's divine will.
Along with a predestinarian theology the students received Protestant ethical values. Protestant work ethics are reflected in a student's essay on labour. The values of labour are in contrast to the traditional disdain for manual labour of the Chinese literati.
According to my own opinion, and with reference to what God has de-signed, I think it is necessary that we should work with our own hands, and secure happiness by our own labour: for we love and enjoy those things produced by our hands, a great deal more than that which is granted for nothing.
Labour is a prerequisite for true happiness and has religious sig-nificance:
In order to secure our happiness, it is necessary that men should labour. It is the inevitable lot of men, but it is a blessing, which lays the foundation of future happiness as well as present. Now let us labour; labour not for riches: labour for good: labour for our fellowmen: labour for the glory of our Creator: and remember that our labour will not be in vain. The Lord will reward us in this world, and that which is to come.41
With this kind of philosophy no wonder several of the graduates made large fortunes and died wealthy. For mature life is built on the foundations laid in youth. This is the title of another of the essays: 'The life of man a building, and youth the foundation':
No man has a well cultivated mind, and habits which qualify him to dis-charge the serious duties of life, unless he has laid a good foundation for all these things when he was a youth. On this foundation whether good or bad, we must build the superstructure in middle life and age.42
We have examined at some length the foundations laid for the students of the Morrison Education Society School. These were quite different from those provided for the average Chinese boy in the traditional Chinese school. The preparation for adult life laid by Samuel R. Brown in the school was the result of his effort to provide an education in the Western tradition and at the same time to train the student so that he could identify himself with the Chinese community and the welfare of his country. Brown hoped that his students would be able to transmit the benefits of their Western education into Chinese forms and so make them available to China for its 'enlightenment' and advancement.
Conclusion
The problems faced by Samuel R. Brown as principal of the Morri-son Education Society School are still encountered when Christian faith meets other cultural traditions. How can the essential nature of the faith be expressed in another tradition? Brown wanted his students to remain Chinese, yet at the same time he wished to free them from the conservatism of their culture and broaden their thought. In trying to do so, he faced the basic problem of language and communication. How can the thought forms of one culture express the truths of Christian faith? For Brown, the solution to the dilemma lay in education in both streams. English-language education would train the mind in reasoning and creativity, educa-tion in the Chinese language and classics would equip the student to cast Western ideas into Chinese forms. Brown's basic approach was an educational imperialism. This merely reflected the basic Western imperialistic approach of the nineteenth century.
How can a correlation be made between the essential intent of Christian faith and the basic intentions expressed in distinctive Chinese cultural structures and thought forms? Today, the prob-lem is complicated because traditional Chinese values have already been broken up by the impact of the West in the course of modern history. Already alien secular patterns are being incorpo-rated into Chinese life. We are tempted to pose the problem in the static terms of the past. But the issue is to be found in the dynamic interaction and change taking place in Communism striving to find its identity within a Chinese context, or in the fluid interactions between modern secular structures and an outmoded colonialism in the historically marginal Chinese community of Hong Kong, or the frequently reactionary attempts of those Chinese cut off from the mainland to re-create a Chinese 'way of life' that has long since been undercut by historical change. In each of these three situa-tions the problem for Christian faith lies not so much in the Chinese patterns of the past as in a reckoning with the fast-paced changes the movement of history is producing upon traditional Chinese values and modes of thought.

2 The Formative Years of the Tong Brothers, Pioneers in the Modernization of China's Commerce and Industry
THE three Tong brothers, who were students at the Morrison Education Society School in Hong Kong in the 1840s, may be considered to be representative of a new class of commercial bourgeoisie that emerged in the China coast cities at the end of the Ch'ing dynasty. This new class within the Chinese social system was composed of entrepreneurs, business men, financiers, and indus-trialists. They were key figures in the industrial and commercial modernization of China following the impact of the West upon traditional China.
The three brothers were Tong Mow-chee (T'ang Mao-chih) ( HTJCSS) (alias Tang T'ing-chih) (fgi) , known in his youth as A-chick (35ffi), born in 1828 and who died in 1897; Tong King-sing (T'ang Ching-hsing) (JSJH!) (alias T'ang T'ing-shu) (/S�G��fE ), known in his youth as Akii, born in 1832 and who died in 1892; and Tong Ting-keng (T'ang T'ing-keng) (SgH ) (perhaps also known as Tong Ying-sing), known in his youth as Afu or A-foo (35 ft), born in 1845. Tong King-sing was the most prominent of the brothers, but although several biographical notices and monographs have been written on aspects of his life, none of them trace his formative years in much detail.1 More information is available on the youthful years of Tong Mow-chee than on the other brothers.
An account of the 61st birthday celebration of Tong Mow-chee in 1888 states that 'the Tong family has played an important part in the history of the trade relations between foreigners and Chinese in Shanghai, and they may be said to be the leaders of the party of progress in the initiation and development of commerce after the style of foreign countries'.
A study of the formative years of the three Tong brothers illus-trates the background from which the new bourgeois class arose in China. One of their classmates at the Morrison Education Society School wrote an essay entitled, The life of man a building, and youth the foundation'.2 The youthful essayist asks how a man can have 'a well cultivated mind and habits which qualify him to dis-charge the serious duties of life, unless he has had laid a good foundation for all these things when he was a youth. On this foundation whether good or bad, we must build the superstructure in middle life and age'.3
The location of their home district, their education by the Mor-rison Education Society, their youthful services as interpreters, and their first ventures into the business world all laid the founda-tions for the Tong brothers' contribution to their country's pro-gress.
Their Home Village
The home of the Tong brothers was the village of Tong-ka in the Heung Shan District of Kwangtung Province.4 The district is situ-ated between Macau and Canton, the two centres for early Euro-pean commerce in China. The villagers had grown accustomed to the presence of the 'red-haired barbarians' with their strange ways, as the Cumsingmoon anchorage for the opium ships was in the bay just off shore from the village. The lesson that an ability to deal with the European might befinancially profitable was not lost on them.
When the Morrison Education Society recruited its first stu-dents, the majority by far, if not all, were from the Heung Shan District. At that time, only a Chinese family that was too poor to provide its sons with a traditional Chinese education or one that intended its sons to enter the service of foreigners would consider sending its sons to a school operated by foreigners, where English would be one of the languages of instruction. It is likely that some members of Tong King-sing's family had had previous contacts with Europeans and realized the financial value of a good com-mand of English.5
The Presbyterian missionary, the Revd Dr A.P. Happer, who opened an Anglo-Chinese school at Macau after the Morrison Education Society had moved its school to Hong Kong, considered that the home village of King-sing was particularly favourable for Christian influence. The Morrison Education Society School had eight boys enrolled from the village or vicinity, three of them being the Tong brothers, and the Presbyterians also had eight. Happer thought of Tong-ka village as a possible location for his English-language school. When this did not seem practicable, he suggested
to his mission board that the Chinese schools there should be given a grant, on the understanding that they would include the study of the Bible in their curriculum, the intention being that with this preparation the village might make a good mission station at some time in the future.6
Student Years at the Morrison Education Society School
The father of the three Tong brothers enrolled them as students of the Morrison Education Society School. He was required to sign an agreement giving the school jurisdiction over his sons for a period of eight years or until their education had been completed. In turn, the Society agreed to provide board, clothing, and school-ing. The brothers' father admitted to the school's principal in 1845 that it required some courage to hand his boys over. Principal Brown quotes him as saying:
We could not understand why a foreigner should wish to feed and instruct our children for nothing. Perhaps it was to entice them away from their parents and country, and transport them by and by to some foreign land. But I understand it now. I have had my three sons in your school steadily since they entered it, and no harm has happened to them. The eldest has qualified for the public service as an interpreter. The other two have learned nothing bad. The religion you have taught them, of which I was so much afraid, has made them better. I myself believe its truth, though the customs of my country forbid my embracing it. I have no longer any fears; you labor for others' good, not your own. I understand it now.7
The oldest of the three brothers, Tong Mow-chee, was enrolled in the school under the name A-chick, aged 11, on 4 November 1839. He was received along with four other boys on this date as the first students on the school roll. On 1 November 1841, A-chick's brother, Tong King-sing, was enrolled as Akii, aged 10, a member of the second class, and on 7 April 1843, their youngest brother, Tong Ting-keng, entered the third class as Afu, aged 8.
The first class has attracted the most attention, especially as one of its members was Yung Wing, who proposed the Chinese Educa-tional Mission for training Chinese students abroad in the 1870s. After an initial weeding out of those not considered suitable, the class consisted of only six students, who appear to have been ex-ceptionally clever; at least, their future careers indicate that they were especially gifted.8 This conclusion is also supported by their rapid acquisition of English. After only six months' instruction, the boys were able to write letters to their principal's former pupils at the New York Institution for the Deaf and Dumb. Unfortunate-ly, only two of these letters were published, but for students who had been studying English for only six months they indicate rapid progress in the language. Undoubtedly, they were written with considerable tutorial supervision and suggestion, but they provide information on Tong A-chick's schoolboy routine and reflect the impact of the missionary emphasis of the school upon the students.9 One of the youngsters wrote:
I am glad in this school. Every morning get up at 5 o'clock, wash body, and face and hands, and go to the garden to walk and pick flowers. At 7 come to school in library, learn Chinese books, at 12 go to play. At 7 o'clock go to parlor to pray to God every morning and evening ... After dinner we go to the garden, hops and play. 9 o'clock to bed. On Sabbath day we read the Bible. God made the world, and heavens and the sun and moon, and the stars and things. Made heaven in six days, only one day did not make because it is Sabbath day.10
A letter written by Tong A-chick was published after he had been in the school for a little more than two years. The Revd S.R. Brown commented that since the boys had been under his instruc-tion their manners and habits were much changed and 'their con-victions of what is right and wrong are clear and manifest'. He looked forward to their eventual conversion, but with much con-cern. 'Poor boys! they will have such difficulties to contend with if they become disciples of Christ, as might shake the faith of many a profession of religion in a land where Christianity is popular. Here everything from every quarter is against them.' We shall note later that Tong A-chick was baptized and for a short while was active in the cause of Christianity, but his interest did not last and there is no evidence that he was an active Christian in later life.
A-chick's letter, dated Macau, 14 January 1842, expressed the high regard he felt for his school and reflected a developing sense of Christian morality.
Mr. Brown is the best teacher that I know in my life, and his school too. In this part of the country I think there is no such school as his.
Hear there is a school for Deaf and Dumb in New York. But if Chinese were so, he would not learn any thing, neither how to read or write, until he died.
When school formed had five boys�Xafter about nine months some went home, because English were at war with China. Afterwards eldest of them whose name was Aling went home, because he did a very bad thing
and committed a great sin against God, as in the law of Moses and the prophets.
Atseuk was taken home by his father. One day, as the English were fighting with the Chinese, his father came to Mr. Brown's school and wanted to take Atseuk home. On the same day Mr. Brown was not at home. Then he wished to take him back without asking Mr. Brown. But Atseuk wouldn't go, and his father gave him a flogging and he cried, and after about an hour they went. Next morning father came and wanted to take his things home, when Mr. Brown saw him he rebuked him and he went home.
Now in this school our teacher has appointed a monitor to keep the boys still when the teacher is out, and the school in order, and they ring the bell to call the boys into study their lessons and say them to the teacher.11
A year and a half after writing this letter, Tong A-chick's schooling was interrupted by a term of service as interpreter in Shanghai.
In 1842, the Treaty of Nanking was signed and the British were granted the right to trade at the five treaty ports. This privilege meant the opening of a consular establishment in the ports and the need arose for a competent staff of translators and interpreters. As always, very few qualified personnel were available. A request was made to Mr Brown to supply interpreters from his students for Shanghai, the first consulate to be opened. He was reluctant to interrupt the education of his students, but official pressure, rein-forced by reference to the yearly government grant the school re-ceived, was strong, and Brown agreed to send two of his students for a limited period. Tong A-chick, the student who had been longest in the school, was chosen, along with T'in Sau. The lat-ter had only been in the school for a few months, but was an advanced-transfer pupil from Singapore.12 They were to serve for six months and then be replaced.
The difficulty of finding capable interpreters was a constant problem.13 The authorities looked to the English-language schools conducted under missionary auspices as a source of supply. The East India Company had assisted in the support of the Anglo-Chinese College at Malacca and, after the revocation of its charter, the Company's annual grants had been continued by the British Plenipotentiary in China. At the time of the opium war, there was a desperate need for interpreters. An appeal was made to the Government of the Straits Settlements for the services of students educated at the Anglo-Chinese College, but none could
be found who were willing to come to China. This soured Sir Henry Pottinger and gave him cause to doubt the effectiveness of the College, and when it moved to Hong Kong in 1843, he abruptly terminated the annual grant and transferred it to the Morrison Education Society. It was natural, therefore, that his successor, Sir John Davis, should make a demand upon that school for inter-preters, and it was difficult for Brown to resist the request. He comments on the problem in his report to the Directors in 1844:
It is the desire of the Society, and must naturally be of all friends of the pupils, to see themfill stations of usefulness with honor to themselves and their patrons; but as the Trustees in taking these lads entirely away from parental influence, have taken upon themselves those duties, they con-sider that they and the instructors are bound to make the best arrangement possible for the real welfare of the lads. In choosing or refusing situations for them, they feel that regard should be paid to the moral and social position of the boys, selecting, as much as can be, those possessing free-dom from great temptation, and not exposed to those vicious influences under which even persons trained under Christian parentage and in-fluence make shipwreck of reputation, health, prospects, and life itself here and hereafter.14
True to his trust, Mr Brown kept a close check on the two boys he had sent to Shanghai. The British Consul, Mr Balfour, reported to him that he was quite pleased with both the ability and the con-duct of the boys. He had found them so useful that he was not willing to send them back after the agreed six months' term, and in addition made a request for more boys to replace his entire group of Chinese linguists, whom he found 'useless and troublesome'. One of the boys sent Brown a diary relating what he had been doing, and the other wrote frequent letters. Both indicated that 'they were grateful for the benefits they have received and are attached to their benefactors'.15
When A-chick finally returned after a year and a half s service in Shanghai, he brought a note from the Consul giving a favourable account of his conduct while he had been in the public service and expressing the Consul's obligation to the Morrison Education Society for providing the assistance of its pupils. A-chick's fellow-student remained behind in Shanghai and entered the Chinese customs service.
Returning to Hong Kong in 1845, Tong A-chick resumed his studies at the Morrison Education Society School after the Chinese New Year holiday. Essays written by the six members of
the senior class were published in November 1845. One of these, entitled 'Chinese Government', appears to reflect the impressions gained by A-chick in his post as consular interpreter at Shanghai. The essay points out the injustice and corruption of the Chinese Government. While very critical of malpractice in the Govern-ment, the author was quite conversant with its administrative structure and practices. There is no definite statement as to the authors of the various essays, but internal evidence would indicate that this was probably the one written by A-chick.16
The Morrison Education Society School was closed in the spring of 1849. The students were distributed among three schools: the Presbyterian Mission School at Canton under the supervision of Dr A.P. Happer, the London Missionary Society School at Hong Kong under the supervision of the Revd Dr James Legge, and the Church of England Anglo-Chinese School at Hong Kong under the supervision of the Colonial Chaplain, the Revd Vincent Stan-ton. Along with seven of his schoolmates, Tong A-chick continued his studies under Mr Stanton. In March 1850, upon the arrival of the first Bishop of Victoria, the Right Revd George Smith, Stan-ton handed his school over to him and the Bishop reorganized it as St. Paul's College. The Bishop took a particular interest in Tong A-chick and mentions him in several of his official reports.
A-chick's brothers, Akii and Afu, entered Dr Legge's school. In his Report of the Preparatory School and the Theological Seminary in Hongkong of the London Missionary Society for the year 1850,
published in Hong Kong, Dr Legge lists T'ong A-foo (SSft ) as one of the six members of the first or senior class. He also states: 'T'ong A-ku, who was received into the school in 1849 when the Morrison Education Society ceased and had been a pupil there between seven and eight years, remained here until the month of the vacation in August last, after which he entered the service of a Commission Agent and Auctioneer. He is a clever lad, but has made no profession of Christianity, though he continues to attend English services at the Union Church'. Tong Afu had left Dr Legge's school by October 1856, for, at that time, as a clerk of the solicitor, George Cooper Turner, he witnessed a land transfer document. His last signature as a witness is on a document dated 23 December 1856. At some time between that date and 6 July 1857, when Chan Quan-ee was the Chinese clerk for Mr Turner, Tong A-foo must have left Turner's employment.17
The three boys expressed their appreciation of the advantages
their education had given them by making generous contributions to causes sponsored by their former schools. In 1861-2 there were five life subscriptions to the Morrison Education Society belonging to former students and in 1862-3 there were seven; of these Tong A-chick and Tong Akii each contributed $35 and Tong Afu contri-buted $30. In 1856, Dr Legge received contributions from seven of his former students for work among the Chinese in Hong Kong. Tong Akii, government interpreter, contributed $30 and Fong (sic) A-foo, in a lawyer's office, $15. A note dated Canton, 8 April 1872, written by Tong Afu in response to an appeal by Dr Legge for contributions towards the building of a chapel at a mission hos-pital in Canton suggests that Afu had not mastered his English as well as his elder brothers. He also apologized for not accepting Christianity. Tt is true that I owe much to the Church and to my teacher, too, it is bad I know to forget the Gospel you taught me. But I feel ashamed and pain to come to the subject more nearer. Your pardon I must crave.'18
Interpreters for the Hong Kong Government
In the autumn of 1847, Tong A-chick was appointed to the posi-tion of interpreter in the Magistrate's Court at an annual salary of �G125. The former interpreter, Daniel Richard Caldwell, had had to declare bankruptcy and resign as Assistant Police Magistrate and Interpreter. As usual, a qualified replacement was hard to find and the Government again turned to the Morrison Education Soci-ety to acquire the services of A-chick.19
Not everyone, however, was confident of A-chick's trustworthi-ness as an interpreter. In reporting a court case, the China Mail noted that the foreman of the jury objected to having A-chick serve as interpreter. He refused, however, to state the grounds for his objection and the judge compromised by ordering another in-terpreter to check on the accuracy of A-chick's interpretation.20 The suspicions of the jury foreman appear to have had some foundation, for, in the summer of 1851, A-chick was charged with being in league with pirates. A pirate ship had been seized and documents were found on board which implicated A-chick. In par-ticular, there was a letter in which he was thanked by 'his brethren of the sea', as they called themselves, for getting one of their num-ber cleared of the charge of piracy by means of false interpretation in court. In July 1851, a commission composed of three Justices of the Peace investigated the charges against A-chick as well as other abuses in the Police Court. A-chick, however, had influential sup-porters. A newspaper account says that 'both His Excellency the Governor and his Worship the Chief Magistrate of Police were determinedly opposed to Tong A-chick's dismissal; and although Tong A-chick applied for his discharge from public service, Mr. Hillier would not grant it to him'.21 However, the investigating commission threatened to resign if their recommendation for dis-missal was not put into effect, and as soon as Mr Hillier left the colony about the beginning of September 1851, A-chick was re-placed by another former student of the Morrison Education Society.
At about the same time, Tong A-chick became involved in a court case which reflected one of the less favourable aspects of social conditions in Hong Kong. The case involved a 16-year-old girl. Her mother had been connected with a brothel. She needed money and, having no security but the good looks and body of her daughter, then only 9 years old and already a singer in the brothel, she had pledged 'the body' of the girl to a brothel-keeper willing to advance the money. The mother subsequently died, leaving the note unpaid and her daughter in the service of the woman to whom she owed the money. The brothel-mistress also served as middle-man and security for obtaining a loan to cover the burial expenses of the girl's mother, thus further obligating the girl to her. The brothel in which she was employed was frequented by Tong A-chick. He took a fancy to her and ran up a large bill with the brothel-mistress. With the promise of marriage, he induced the girl to leave the brothel and live with him, leaving behind her mother's unpaid debt as well as his own unsettled bill.
The brothel-keeper threatened to sue for the recovery of her debts. Tong A-chick tried to settle the two accounts with a token payment, which she refused, though this counter-offer delayed court proceedings. In the meantime, A-chick was dismissed from his government post and the brothel-mistress gained new courage and brought her demands before the court. The girl was impris-oned as a debtor, but when the case was tried in the Court of Summary Jurisdiction, the Magistrate dismissed the claims on the grounds that it had not been proper to secure the original debt by a pledge of 'a body' for what seemed the obvious purposes of pros-titution.
With the case decided in favour of A-chick's inamorata, he took out a summons in the name of the girl against the brothel-keeper for certain property she had kept when the girl had left to live with A-chick. Before the case was heard, A-chick's uncle, who had been compradore to a former Sheriff of Hong Kong and was still rendering service to the Government, tried to use his connections to intimidate the brothel-keeper. But in spite of his appearance in court on behalf of the girl, as well as the testimony of others of some standing, she lost the case.22
The publicity connected with this sordid affair did not enhance Tong A-chick's reputation in the community, and it seemed better for him to leave Hong Kong and try his fortune in another place. His uncle was planning to go to California so it was natural for A-chick to join him.
When Tong A-chick was dismissed from his post as interpreter in the Magistrate's Court, his brother Akii (Tong King-sing) was appointed on 17 December 1851 to fill A-chick's place at a salary of �G100. This was �G25 less than the annual salary his brother had been receiving. In 1854, Akii submitted a request for an increase, stating that he found it difficult to meet the expenses of his family, which consisted of six in Hong Kong and others in his home village. He was granted the substantial increase of �G50, but in January 1856, he resigned his post as interpreter.23
Several charges of irregularities had been brought against him. None of them were proved, but they were aired in the local press and his reputation was under a cloud. He then became caught up in the charges and countercharges of the Caldwell-Ma Chow Wong affair.24 However, Tong Akii had influential defenders. The Assistant Police Magistrate, in submitting testimony in the libel trial of the editor of a local newspaper, spoke strongly on Aku's behalf and recommended that he should be recalled as a govern-ment interpreter. The Attorney-General also gave him a strong recommendation: 'Tong Akii was the ablest interpreter amongst the European and Chinese, not even excepting Mr. Caldwell, whom I have known, during the two and half years I havefilled the office of Attorney General. As to his good faith and trust-worthiness, I hold him not inferior to any. I believe him to have been sacrificed to Mr. Caldwell and Ma Chow Wing.'25
In the list of pawnbrokers' licences for Hong Kong, Tong Akii is registered as the proprietor of the Quin Sing shop on Queen's Road for the years 1857 and 1858. He may also have been a silent partner in the shop in the Lower Bazaar registered in the name of Tong Hop Sing in 1855 and 1856.26 In a court case in 1856 regard-ing goods looted from a pawnshop during a fire, the charge was made that Akii had an interest in the shop, but he denied it, though the ground on which it was built was affirmed to be his. The news-writer claimed that the Chinese maintained that he held two out of the four shares in the shop. The reporter suggested that, in view of the fact that there had been cases of alleged oppression in the Magistrate's Court arising out of his co-partnership, the matter should be investigated by the Police Commission.27 These shops were profitable ventures for, in a letter Tong King-sing wrote to William Keswick of Jardine, Matheson and Company, dated 1866, he stated that from two pawnshops he had owned for four years in Hong Kong he made 25 to 45 per cent annually on his investment.28
At the same time that Tong Akii was under fire as interpreter, a relative, Tong Sing-po, was accused of misappropriating funds as the Treasurer of the Committee for the Celebration of the Festival of the Hungry Ghosts. The China Mail of 4 September 1856 re-marked that 'members of the Tong family connected with the Hongkong Government ... have an unfortunate knack of getting themselves into scrapes, for we are told that A-chick ... has lat-terly been rendering himself obnoxious to his countrymen in California as head of one of the hwuy, and that his life even is in danger. We have heard that it is A-chick's intention to return to Hongkong'.
Tong Mow-chee (A-chick) in California
The years spent by Tong Mow-chee (A-chick) in California pro-vided the first opportunity for the Tong brothers to serve the spe-cial interests of their countrymen. Although only 24 years of age, A-chick soon became an important leader and spokesman for the Chinese community in California. His English-language education and his intimate knowledge of Western ways qualified him for this position.
After A-chick's dismissal from his post as interpreter in the Hong Kong Government in 1851, he prepared to leave Hong Kong and join the Chinese exodus to California. He left about the middle of January 1852. The departure had been delayed because of difficulties resulting from the disastrous Bazaar fire at the close of 1851. In the four hundred odd buildings destroyed at that time were most of the provisions, clothing, and necessities the emi-grants had accumulated for their voyage to San Francisco, along with their written contract in Chinese with the Captain and charterers of the ship on which they were to sail. This loss resulted in a dispute with the Captain and an appeal was made to the Revd
S.W. Bonney at Whampoa, where the arrangements for the char-ter had been made originally. Bonney came down to Hong Kong and quickly sorted things out, so that the ship could leave with its load of emigrants.29
A-chick left well supplied with letters of introduction to church people in San Francisco. On 29 June 1851, along with two of his fellow-students at St. Paul's College, he had been baptized by the Bishop of Victoria.30 Strangely enough, his dismissal from govern-ment service and his connection with the young prostitute did not seem to put him out of favour with the Christian community. Bon-ney had recommended him to Mr Buel, agent of the American Bible Society, the Revd T.D. Hunt, a Congregational minister, and Mr Bokee, a business man formerly in the employment of the China-trade firm of Olyphant and Company. From his patron, the Bishop of Victoria, A-chick received a general letter of introduc-tion 'to any Christian minister he might meet'.
Upon arrival in San Francisco, A-chick presented his general letter of introduction from the Bishop to the Revd Dr Van Mehr, rector of Grace Church Episcopal, who wrote to the Bishop:
It was with no ordinary degree of pleasure that I made the acquaintance of a young Chinese convert called A-chick, who brought an excellent letter of introduction from you. And I presume you feel deeply interested in his welfare ... He came to see me as soon as he had arrived and has visited me almost daily. Knowing the spiritual temptation of this life killing place, the very seat of Mammon, I have advised him to prepare for communion. I have read with him a part of Bishop Wilson's preparatory to the Holy Communion, and conversed much with him on the nature and design of the Sacraments. What strikes me most is the depth of his heart and the consciousness he has that it is the hardness of heart of his countrymen which prevents them becoming Christians. It is unfortunate that he has to live altogether in continual companionship with them. As far as I can see, he is a converted man and promises to remain faithful. I shall do what I can to fulfill God's design with this redeemed soul, until he returns under your immediate care.31
A-chick attracted the interest not only of the Revd Dr Van Mehr, but also of several other churchmen interested in the
evangelization of the Chinese. Albert Williams, founder of the First Presbyterian Church in San Francisco, reported that he met A-chick and that 'his answer to questions touching matters of Christian doctrine are intelligent and satisfactory. He is associated with his uncle, accompanying him in a mercantile venture, and will remain in this city. I have much hope, that through his instrumentality we may bring the gospel more directly to bear upon his interesting country'.32
Soon after A-chick's arrival, a Bible class for Chinese was orga-nized by a Presbyterian elder, Thomas C. Hambly. Its first mem-bers were A-chick and his companions'. It was realized that if the Chinese in San Francisco were to be reached by the Church, it was not enough to have classes for them in English. Hence the Session of the Presbyterian Church requested their board of foreign missions to send a Chinese-speaking missionary to San Francisco. In response to this request, the board sent a returned mission-ary from China, the Revd William Speer. Speer arrived at San Francisco in October 1852 and met A-chick the following month. He gives a somewhat detailed account of A-chick's activities and prospects in California and remarks:
Song [sic] Achick is regarded by the American community here as a man of more than common ability. He received us in his office attached to the hall of the company whose chief he is. His dress is the native silk gown, close pants, and embroidered shoes. His address impresses strangers as both dignified and courteous. His education is perhaps defective in the Chinese classics, but he may reach powers under his own government, on the basis of wealth, and hereafter wield an important influence over the undisclosed but portentious [sic] destinies of the vast empire of whose subjects he is begotten.33
Speer was not successful, however, in enlisting Tong A-chick as one of the charter members of the first Chinese Christian con-gregation organized in the United States, which opened in San Francisco on 6 November 1853.
After A-chick's original contact with the Christian community through the Revd Dr Van Mehr's confirmation instruction and through attendance at Elder Hambly's Bible class, his spiritual en-thusiasm waned. He was probably too caught up in his business and diplomatic activities. In order to have the full confidence of the general Chinese community it was probably expedient not to have too intimate and open an association with the Christian community.34 However, the Chinese were not antagonistic to-wards Christian work among their countrymen. An appeal to the Chinese community was made by Mr Speer for funds for a mission building. Tong A-chick assisted in gathering contributions. Two thousand dollars were raised among the Chinese, and an in-terested missionary remarked that it was 'not only the first contribu-tion made in this country, but by that people anywhere to any considerable extent, toward the erection of a Christian church'.35 Tong K. Achick and Company contributed $100.
Soon after A-chick's arrival in the spring of 1852, he had found himself in a position of leadership in the Chinese community for an attack of haemorrhages forced the generally acknowledged repre-sentative of the Chinese community to relinquish his position at this time. He was a colourful figure named Norman Asing. An election was held and Tong A-chick was elected as his successor. I am not sure whether the position to which he was elected was that of the head of the Kwong Chau Kung Sz or of the Yeong Wo Wui. The latter was organized by the men of the Heung Shan District in 1852. It is clear that Tong A-chick was the head of the Yeong Wo Association in 1852. He retained this position for several years, probably until his return to China.
The event, however, which made A-chick responsible for repre-senting the Chinese community before the American community was political opposition to a bill to introduce foreign contract labour into California.36 The merchants were generally in favour of contract labour. The miners were strongly opposed to it; they re-garded contract labour as an economic threat. This view appeared to be that of the majority and Governor Bigler addressed the Legislature on 23 April 1852, opposing the legalization of contract labour.
The Governor's message had attracted the attention of the few Chinese who could read English. They, in turn, explained it to the general Chinese community. In response, two of the leaders of the community, Hab Wa of the Sam Wo Company and Tong (in the original account the name appears as Long) A-chick of Tun Wo and Company, published a letter in reply 'for the Chinamen in California'. In it they set forth the significant contribution the commerce of the Chinese merchants had made to the economy of the State and emphasized that the Chinese immigrants were not coolies but free labourers.
Encouraged by the interest aroused by their first letter, the Chinese sent Tong A-chick as their ambassador to the Governor. 'We charged him to see the Governor face to face, and to tell him again the truth about us, and to endeavour, by supplicating words, to induce him to use his powerful influence in persuading the American miners to abide by the law which the Legislature had passed, allowing foreigners, Chinamen as well as others, to work in the mines on the payment of a Tax.'37
To create a favourable climate for the presentation of the Chinese position to the Governor, the Chinese community sent with Tong A-chick 'shawls of rarest pattern, rolls of silk of cost-liest texture, and some seventy handkerchiefs of the choicest description'.38 Tong A-chick felt that his visit to the Governor had accomplished some good. He had been hospitably received and entertained. Indeed, the Governor had requested that the Chinese present another letter to him stating their case and he promised to answer it by a speech or proclamation on their behalf. 'When we heard this, we were much rejoiced, and believed our sorrows were nearly at an end.'39 Consequently, they quickly drafted another letter and again sent it with Tong A-chick to the Governor. But soon they received word that the Governor had found the letter unacceptable and had submitted a draft of one that he would con-sider suitable. They, however, found that 'the words were not our words, and that we cannot say them with the truth of honest men, and that they contradict what we have already said'. So, despairing of the support of the Governor, they proceeded to publish their original letter dated 16 May 1852.
The letter pointed out that mutual interchange would be bene-ficial for both Americans and Chinese. 'Our intercourse may benefit us both very much, and that will be better than quarreling about our respective merits. Why should East quarrel with the West? God made them both, and placed the day between them, that the nations should use it in doing good works to one another.' This letter was signed by Tong K. Achick of Tun Wo and Com-pany, and also by Chun Aching on behalf of Sam Wo and Com-pany.
When several bills were introduced into the California Legisla-ture in 1853, proposing that 'no Asiatic or person of Asiatic de-scent or Chinese should be permitted to work in any mines in this state', the matter was referred to the Committee on Mines and Mining Interests. The Committee held hearings in which the heads of the four district houses testified. Tong K. Achick acted as their interpreter and presented the Chinese position.40 He also pre-pared a detailed analysis of the organization and functions of the five district associations with a numerical account of the Chinese belonging to each.
Speer testified to the good work done by A-chick on behalf of the Chinese. 'This is the individual whose efforts last Spring (1852) in behalf of his countrymen, were the chief means in turning the tide of public opinion in their favour, when those unfriendly to them made the attempt to expel them from the country. And if he remains here, there is no man whose influence will be more felt among the large bodies of emigrants of his own race already in the State, or coming in the spring.'41
Tong A-chick interrupted his stay in California with a visit to Hong Kong for a few months in 1853 or 1854. This is mentioned in a report written by the Bishop of Victoria. The Bishop welcomed him and was pleased with the letter the Revd Dr Van Mehr had sent with A-chick stating that 'it is impossible not to appreciate his sociable disposition, his kindness, his gentlemanly behaviour, his Christian deportment'.42 In 1856 or 1857, A-chick returned permanently to China.
A Brief Survey of the Later Careers of the Tong Brothers
This study is intended to illustrate the background of represen-tative members of a new Chinese bourgeoisie by examining the formative factors in their youth which contributed to their success as adults. It is not inappropriate, however, to set forth briefly their adult careers; that of Tong King-sing is well documented, those of his brothers less so.
Not long after Tong King-sing resigned as interpreter in the Hong Kong Government, he joined the Chinese maritime customs service at Shanghai. In 1863, he joined the compradorial staff of Jardine, Matheson and Company, and in 1873 was appointed General Manager of> the recently organized China Merchants' Steam Navigation Company. He resigned in 1884 and until his death in 1892 was connected with the Kaiping mines.
Tong Mow-chee, on his return from California in 1857, also joined the staff of the Chinese customs service. In 1871, he was compradore at Tientsin for Jardine, Matheson and Company, and in 1873, when his brother resigned as their Shanghai compradore, he took his place. He held this position until his death in 1895, though for a time he was associated with his brother in the manage-ment of the China Merchants' Steam Navigation Company. He was acting manager when Tong King-sing was on a European tour in 1883. To avoid the Company's ships being seized by the French, the property of the Company was transferred to Russell and Com-pany in 1884, and Tong Mow-chee returned to Jardines. He be-came President of the Canton Guild in Shanghai and of the Han-kow Tea Guild. According to a sketch of his life on the occasion of his 61st birthday, 'he had arduous and unpleasant duties to per-form in connection with the Great Swatow Guild opium case in the Mixed Courts (of Shanghai) and the farming of the likin on opium in the Settlement. In addition he is director of different native and semi-native companies, and only lately he manifested his progres-sive spirit by his speeches at the public meeting in furtherance of the opening of Zoological Gardens in Shanghai'.43
One of the early business enterprises in which Tong Mow-chee and his brother, Tong King-sing, were interested was the first sugar refinery built in Hong Kong. The sugar company grew out of a business partnership between Tong King-sing, William McGre-gor Smith and a Mr Dahlbeck. When the Company was formed, Smith was the largest shareholder, contributing 16,000 taels. Tong King-sing put in 3,000 taels. They had intended to conduct busi-ness at Kiukiang, but instead transferred to Shanghai, where they operated successfully until 1864. It was arranged that Smith should go to England to purchase machinery for a sugar refinery. But while he was absent, business declined and Dahlbeck absconded, leaving debts of 5,000 taels. Tong King-sing became responsible for these debts. He was already in financial straits as he had en-countered other losses and had had to pay some $30,000 to get one of his brothers out of the hands of the mandarins. After Smith returned with the machinery, King-sing transferred his share in the business to his brother, Tong Mow-chee. The refinery was set up at East Point, Hong Kong, under the firm name of Smith, Wahee and Company. Wahee was Wong Yan-ting, also known as Wong Wa-hee. Tong Mow-chee sold out his interests in December 1869.44 The Company eventually went bankrupt and was taken over by Jardine, Matheson and Company.
The youngest of the brothers, Afu, seems to have been known later as T'ang T'ing-keng. According to Feuerwerker's study on China's early industrialization, Afu was manager of the Canton branch of the China Merchants' Steam Navigation Company. He can probably be identified as the Tong Ying-sing of Canton who, with Cheang Luk-u of Hong Kong, acquired title in 1882 to a part of Marine Lot 225 just west of Western Market, where the China Merchants' Steam Navigation Company established their Hong Kong branch office. In 1884, Tong and Cheang transferred this property to William Howell Forbes, the head partner of Russell and Company.45 In the same year, Tong King-sing and his brother were charged with irregularities in the handling of the company's finances. They had enough of their shares confiscated to make up for the deficits in their accounts.46
In 1883, one of Tong King-sing's brothers bought one of the mansions on the Praia Grande in Macau for 10 million patacas. The purchase was greeted as evidence of the confidence of Chinese capitalists in the future of Macau.47
Conclusion
All three brothers made a contribution to China's effort to adjust to the new demands made upon it when China's traditional system proved ineffective in meeting the economic and military imperial-ism of the West. The comment made about Tong King-sing at the time of his death could apply to each of the brothers: 'From the early days when he was a boy at the once famous Morrison School in Hong Kong, Tong King Shing had been in harness, and actively engaged in important work that has already proved of great and permanent service to his country.'48 Their English-language education, conducted on Western pedagogical principles, their services as interpreters and clerks for foreigners, and their early business ventures shaped the thought and characters of the Tong brothers and directed them to their life work.
STUDENTS who had learned English at missionary schools were sought after by government officials to serve as translators and advisers, and by the business community to act as compradores. They became middlemen between things Chinese and things foreign.
Commissioner Lin's Translators
In the several studies of Commissioner Lin and the Opium War the translators he used in his efforts to acquire a more adequate knowledge of the West are mentioned. The first notice of them is given in a postscript to an article, 'Crisis in the Opium Traffic', printed in the June 1839 issue of the Chinese Repository:
The commissioner has in his service four natives, all of whom have made some progress in the English tongue. Thefirst is a young man, educated at Penang and Malacca, and for several years employed by the Chinese gov-ernment at Peking. The second is an old man, educated at Serampore. The third is a young man who was once at the school at Cornwall, Con-necticut, U.S.A. The fourth is a young lad, educated in China, who is able to read and translate papers on common subjects, with much ease, correctness, and facility.
A more exact identification of the four translators is given in the semi-annual report of the Canton mission of the American Board dated 4 July 1839, to be found in the archives of the Board on deposit at Houghton Library, Harvard University.
Four Chinese: Aman, who was with Dr. Marshman at Serampore, Shaou Tih, who was educated at Malacca and since employed as Latin translator of the Russian commission at Peking, Alum, who was at Cornwall, Connecticut, U.S.A., and last but not least, Atih, the son of Afat�Xhe is decidedly the best English-Chinese scholar in China�Xall acquainted with English are in his pay.
The four translators shared one common element: they all had acquired their knowledge of English under missionary sponsor-
ship. The official 'linguists' of the Co-hong system at Canton could not be used for general translations. Their abilities were confined to a limited commercial field and they had little or no understanding of the broader aspects of Western thought and literature. Hence, when Commissioner Lin wished to have the mysteries of the West unlocked, he had to find Chinese with a broader and more adequate understanding of the English language and of foreign ways of thought and action. He found four who met these requirements among the small group of Chinese who had been educated by the missionaries.
When Lin was sent to Canton by the Imperial Government of China to suppress the opium trade, he was as ill-informed of the ways of Westerners as any other member of the official class. After six months in Canton, in answer to an enquiry from Peking about the supposed custom of foreigners on ships buying Chinese chil-dren, he stated that, in some cases, as many as a thousand or more were bought at a time.1 But already his programme was under way to provide him with more accurate information. He realized that if he was to deal effectively with foreigners, who generally acted in a manner far removed from the customary polite Chinese pattern, he must know more about them and their countries. Since his con-tact with them was limited to infrequent formal interviews cir-cumscribed by official etiquette, he sought information concerning foreign ways from his translators. A programme of translating Western writings was instituted.
Outside the foreign business houses there was little Western literature available in Canton. Lin's translator, however, had easy access to the weekly issues of the English newspapers published in Canton. From the Revd Samuel R. Brown, principal of the Morri-son Education Society School in Macau, the Encyrcropania was bought. And when the Spanish ship Bilbiano was seized and burned by the Chinese in September 1839, its library was sent to the Commissioner.2 He also requisitioned all the globes, charts, atlases, geographies, encyclopaedias, and dictionaries he could find in Canton.3
The two major problems Lin had to deal with were the opium trade and a general embargo on trade at Canton. Naturally, he felt a special need for information on these matters. In July 1839, he sent some quotations from Vattel's Law of Nations referring to war, blockades, and embargoes to the hospital of Dr Peter Parker in Canton and requested a translation. He also desired a medical
opinion about opium and a general prescription for the cure of its smokers. In reply,
An explanation was written in Chinese, to the effect that opium was classed among the poisons by scientific men of the West, but at the same time [it was] a valuable medicine in the hands of the skillful physician�X that, when taken in excessive doses, it is capable of producing death ... Some explanation was also afforded, of the manner in which by its gra-dual influence, the use of opium undermines the whole constitution. And it was then pointed out, that the treatment for the recovery of those suffering under its use must vary.4
Lin also had available for translation Thelwall's The Iniquities of the Opium Trade.
Lin was only too well acquainted with the attitude of the opium merchants regarding the trade. Their reluctance to co-operate with him in the suppression of the trade was quite evident. He turned to a Western doctor for information about the scientific nature of opium. In Thelwall, he read the views of an enlightened minority of the British public who deplored their nation's involvement in the trade.
In a comment Lin wrote on translations of correspondence be-tween the British and the Governor of Macau, which he forwarded to Peking, he justifies his policy of seeking information concerning the foreign powers:
At this crucial phase of our effort to ward off the foreigners, we must constantly find out all we can about them. Only by knowing their strength and weakness can we find the right means to restrain them. For that reason I have got hold of six letters that passed between the Portuguese and English and have secretly had them translated by people who can read foreign languages.5
Of the 'people who can read foreign languages', Aman was an old man educated at Serampore. According to the Revd Elijah Bridgman, a missionary of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, Aman's ability to speak and write English was 'rather indifferent'. Soon after Bridgman's arrival in China in 1830, a Mr H. visited him and told him about
a man born in Serampore. His father was a Chinese, his mother a native of Bengal. For more than ten years he was in one of the Mission schools, and enjoyed tuition of Mr. Marshman. It is now eight or ten years since he came to Canton. He continues to speak and write the English language, though rather indifferently. He is poor and low.6
Bridgman's informant, 'the young Mr H.', was undoubtedly a fel-low American, William C. Hunter, who had studied Chinese at the Anglo-Chinese College at Malacca. Hunter also gives us interest-ing information about another of Lin's interpreters, Yuan Te-hui, more commonly known in contemporary records as Shaou Tih.
Shaou Tih had received a Latin education at the Roman Catho-lic School at Penang. In William C. Hunter's reminiscences of his schoolmates at the college at Malacca published in his Bits of Old China,7 he states that Shaou Tih was reported to have been a con-vert to the Roman Catholic faith, 'evidences of which, however, we never saw'. About the year 1825, Shaou Tih and a companion, Antonio Frederico Moor, entered the Anglo-Chinese College. Both were in their early twenties. Hunter describes Shaou Tih as fearfully pockmocked, but,
it soon became evident that he was no ordinary person. He was familiar with Latin, and our Chinese teachers were one and all struck with his superior attainments in their own language ... He was from the province of Sze-Chuen, and about twenty-five years of age. He spoke a robust Mandarin dialect, and made himself of great use in preparing copy for wooden blocks for the Chinese printing establishment, as he wrote a beautiful hand. In manner he was rough and abrupt, and his small twink-ling eyes, keen and penetrating. During about sixteen months that Moore, myself, and Shaow-Tih were at the College together, the latter applied himself to the study of the English language, not lightly but profoundly, and when I left for Canton he had made wonderful progress. Everyone in the College referred to him as 'the reader', from the attention he gave to his studies.
In addition to his diligent application to the mastery of English, Shaou Tih wrote a book for the use of the students in the college entitled English and Students Assistant, or Colloquial Phrases. It was published by the Malacca Mission Press in 1826. He also trans-lated into Chinese Keith's Treatise on the Globes and Stocki's Cla-vis. In 1827, Shaou Tih and his Chinese companion were forced to leave Malacca because of the activities of the triad societies.8 He returned to Canton and remained there until 1829. In that year, his former Malacca schoolmate, William C. Hunter, recommended him to Howqua, the hong merchant, who in turn endorsed his ap-plication for the post of interpreter at the Imperial Foreign Office in Peking. Howqua had been requested by the Governor of Kwangtung to recommend a suitable person for the office. To test the applicant's ability to translate, the Peking Office had sent to
Canton a set of Russian papers in Latin of which they had a pre-vious translation. The performance of Shaou Tih was satisfactory and he was interviewed by the Governor, 'provided with a boat and an official flag, and sent off to the Court of the Celestial Empire'.9
Shaou Tih's connection with triad societies may be the source of the comment in a newspaper notice that he 'is a pretender to the throne of the last dynasty, but this is probably mere play'. In the summer of 1830, he returned to Canton in an official capacity to procure foreign books to take to Peking. In 1838, he again re-turned to Canton for more books. The following year, he became one of Lin's translators. The Chinese Repository, in July 1839, printed one of his translations, labelling it as 'the first document which ever came from the Chinese in the English language'.10 The English was in Chinese idiomatic style and, following the Chinese pattern, was without punctuation. It was an invitation to the Brit-ish to reopen trade, but under the condition laid down by Commis-sioner Lin that none of it be in opium. Shaou Tih also translated Lin's letter to Queen Victoria. He continued working for Lin until 1840 and then returned to Peking. From that time the Western world lost sight of him.
Alum, the third of Lin's interpreters mentioned in 1839, was a former student at the Mission School of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions at Cornwall, Connecticut, from 1823 to 1825. The school was opened in 1817. At various times, young men from the islands of the Pacific came to the ports of New England. An interest in their spiritual welfare resulted in the organization of the foreign mission school at Cornwall. The founders hoped that the school would provide an atmosphere con-ducive to the conversion of its students to Christianity and that their academic training would 'qualify them to become useful Mis-sionaries, Physicians, Surgeons, School Masters or Interpreters: and to communicate to the Heathen Nations such knowledge of agriculture and the arts, as may prove the means of promoting Christianity and civilization'.11 The novelty of the school and its pious objectives attracted a great deal of attention. However, the school was not a total success. The boys aroused not only the inter-est of the religious and the curious but also the romantic interest of the village girls at Cornwall. Two of the daughters of the local leading families married students. This and other factors led to the
closure of the school in 1825. During its brief history, there are records of five Chinese who studied there.
In 1824, William Alum and a companion, Henry Martyn Alan, were sent to the school under the sponsorship of the Female Soci-ety of Philadelphia for the Education of Heathen Youth. Thomas La Fargue, in an article on 'Some Early Chinese Visitors to the United States' refers to the two boys as 'two Chinese, evidently brothers, Ah Lan and Ah Lum'.12 This relationship is not sup-ported by the statement in the New York Observer of 3 July 1824 that a letter had been received 'from the father of one of these youths'. The father could not comprehend the idea of disinterested charity. To him it was incredible that his son should be the re-cipient of so much expenditure of funds and of such kindness on the part of the sponsoring society. He asked, 'Who shall pay the debt?'.
Shortly after their arrival at the school the principal reported that 'they were promising as to abilities and native education; but they have been used to a good living and an easy life ... and what is more, they are frequently disagreeing between themselves'. Not long before the closing of the school in 1825, the boys ran away. They eventually returned to Canton. In 1834, one of them was teaching English to servants in the foreign factories as an 'out-side shopman not connected with the Hong merchants'.13 Henry Martyn Alan died in January 1836, 'a besotted heathen'.14 In 1839, his companion, William Alum, was one of the four interpreters employed by Commissioner Lin.
According to the estimate of his English teacher, Liang Tsen Teh was the best qualified of Lin's translators. A-teh (or Atih), as he was commonly called, was the son of Liang A-fa, the first ordained Chinese Protestant minister. When the boy was about 3 years old, his father brought him to Canton to be baptized. Dr Robert Morrison notes this event in his journal in the entry for 20 November 1823:
Today Leang A-fa, our Chinese fellow-disciple, brought his son Leang Tsen-teh, and had him baptized in the name of God the Father, Son and Spirit. Oh! that this small Christian family may be the means of spreading the truth around them in this pagan land.15
Shortly after the arrival of the Revd E. Bridgman at Canton in 1830, A-fa entrusted his 10-year-old son to Bridgman's care so that
the boy might learn the English language 'and be familiar with Scriptures in that tongue, that he may, by and by, assist in a revi-sion of the Chinese version'.16 Bridgman, of course, was also con-cerned about the boy's spiritual welfare. In May 1832, Bridgman reports that 'the spirit of God has most manifestly been striving' with the lad, 'convicting him of sin. He is a child of many prayers'.17 A-teh continued his studies in English, Hebrew and general subjects under Bridgman at Canton until the autumn of 1834, when the activity of a handful of Chinese Christians at Can-ton attracted the attention of officials. They arrested several and seized the printing blocks on which A-fa and his colleagues had been working. A-fa was forced to flee to Singapore, taking his son with him. At Singapore, A-teh's education was supervised by the American Board missionaries. His expenses were paid by the Morrison Education Society. In 1837, he returned to Canton to resume his studies under Bridgman.
When Lin ordered all the Chinese employed by foreigners to leave the foreign factories in March 1839, A-teh left Canton to live at Macau with the servants of Mr Charles W. King, an American merchant. However, agents of Commissioner Lin sought him out and offered him the lucrative position of interpreter. Towards the end of May he left Macau for his new position in Canton. At first, the missionaries were very apprehensive about this move. They were afraid that it would endanger his piety and weaken his former close attachment to the missionary enterprise. But when they be-gan to hear reports of the important service he was rendering in interpreting the West to Commissioner Lin and, through letters and visits, were assured that he was still loyal to the Christian reli-gion, they began to take a more positive attitude towards his new role.
The third annual report of the Morrison Education Society, dated 29 September 1841, notes that one of the students who had been under the patronage of the Society before 1839,
having been sought out while residing in Macao, in the spring of 1839, was with the strongest persuasions and promises induced to enter the service of his imperial majesty's high commissioner, who employed him as Eng-lish interpreter and translator, and through him obtained translations of many extracts from the newspapers of the day, from Murray's Cyclopedia of Geography, and other foreign works, some of them relating to China. The efforts made to secure the services of this youth, while yet his educa-tion was but half-completed, are good evidences that the Chinese, even in the highest stations, appreciate the value of an acquaintance with foreign languages and literature. The youth was kindly treated by the commis-sioner, well remembered, and enjoyed good opportunities for improving his knowledge of his own language. He was kept thus employed till Lin's removal from office ... Many items of information obtained through this medium were sent up to the imperial court; and it was the intention of the commissioner to publish to his own countrymen the results of his inquiries concerning foreign nations. He is understood to have taken all his papers with him on leaving Canton, and he may perhaps, ere long, arrange and prepare his materials for publication.
With the demotion of Lin by the Emperor, the team of trans-lators was disbanded. However, the court instructed Lin to remain in Canton after his dismissal in order to offer assistance to his suc-cessor, Ch'i-shan. One of the missionaries of the London Mission-ary Society reports, in December 1840, several months after Lin's removal from office, that A-teh 'is not now nominally in the pay of local government, but Lin prefers to detain him in his private capacity, designing to introduce him to Keahin, who has been appointed to take the seals of government over the two Kwangs'.18
After a year's separation, Bridgman noted a new maturity in his protege. In a letter dated 29 November 1840, he states that he 'recently had a visit from my dear boy Atih, who has become a man. During his time of service in the office of Lin, he has con-tinued to improve in knowledge, and I trust in piety. He is a very amiable, intelligent, and promising youth, and is (or seems to be) more anxious than ever to prosecute his studies'.19 He had married in the spring of 1840 and so had a wife to provide for. There was some discussion between Bridgman and Liang A-fa about the young man's future before satisfactory arrangements were made for him to continue his studies.
At Lin's degradation, Atih returned to his home, the house of his father, where his wife is living. Being thus out of employment and fearing at once to return to his foreign friends, his father proposed that he should seek some commercial business for a season in order to gain a livelihood. To this line of business I felt unwilling the boy should be given up even for a short season. From the Government he had been receiving something like ten or twelve dollars a month, and this amount was necessary for his sup-port and that of his family. This I could not well pay, Mr. (John Robert) Morrison has agreed therefore to join me, for the present in giving Atih support; we pay him twelve dollars a month, being six dollars from each, and have secured for him a quiet retreat in the country, away from for-eigners and government, under the tuition of a maternal uncle. The boy has a good supply of books in English and Hebrew, and we trust he is doing well.20
Before A-teh had actually retired to his country retreat, Chinese officials, appreciating the value of his services, had made several efforts to persuade him to re-enter their service.21
When some of the bitter feelings of the Chinese against for-eigners had abated, A-teh returned to Macau to study with Bridg-man. He was only with Bridgman for a few months in 1842. In July of that year, he was already in Hong Kong, serving as an inter-preter for the Police Magistrate at a salary of $50 a month. The position was considered to be only temporary, but his new affluence prompted him to invest in a marine lot in the Lower Bazaar in Hong Kong. He purchased it at public auction in October 1842 for $115. In 1844, his father bought the adjoining lot. But neither father nor son felt at home in Hong Kong. For a time after A-teh had left his position in the Magistrate's Office, he remained in Hong Kong, supported by Bridgman. Bridgman was still express-ing grave concern over his spiritual state: 'Enticed away by Lin, he was well-nigh ruined, even now, I am afraid to speak confidently of him'.22 Bridgman was appointed a Secretary of the American Legation to China, under the direction of the Hon. Caleb Cushing, in the spring and summer of 1844. A-teh assisted Bridgman in his new duties. Soon after the treaty between the United States and China was signed on 3 July 1844, A-teh left for Canton to enter the employ of a salt merchant, P'an Shih-ch'eng, a wealthy descendant of one of the former Co-hong merchants who was actively promot-ing the adoption by the Chinese of Western scientific techniques. A-teh's father also left Hong Kong about this time, disillusioned with life in the British colony. The two disposed of their Hong Kong property by selling the two marine lots to Bridgman to be used as chapel, dispensary, and book deposit.23
Bridgman regretted that A-teh had been weaned away from his immediate influence by the attraction of high pay as an interpreter for the Chinese and British authorities.
He has suffered much by these connections, and this is one reason why I so much deprecate them. The young man has probably a better know-ledge of Christianity than any other Chinese living. He has an enlightened and tender, but much abused conscience. He daily reads his Bible and maintains secret prayer and knows well the necessity of being born again.
I cannot tell you the deep anxiety I have had, and still have, on his account. I have watched for him, and prayed with and for him, even as for a son. And I indulge a hope that the Spirit of God is still strong within him. I write him long letters every week, and shall try to bring him to make a full surrender of himself to his Savior.24
But after Bridgman moved from Hong Kong to Canton in July 1845, he had more opportunity to see his protege and he expressed more confidence in A-teh's spiritual state.
From all that I can learn, he maintains his Christian character, carefully abstains from idolatry, keeps the Sabbath day, is honest and faithful in his intercourse with all men and anxious to know more of the truth of God. He has two children, a daughter and a son, and these with his wife he desires to have consecrated to God, and has asked to have them baptized.25
While previously the Americans had benefited indirectly from A-teh's services through Bridgman's use of him during the Sino-American treaty deliberations, now A-teh's linguistic ability and understanding of Western knowledge were available to Ch'i-ying, the Chinese Commissioner, by being channelled through A-teh's employer, P'an Shih-ch'eng, an important member of Ch'i-ying's staff. A-teh, however, left the services of his Chinese employer in 1846 and resumed his studies under Bridgman.
George H. McNeur, in his biography of Liang A-fa, states that after A-teh entered the service of P'an Shih-ch'eng 'he never after-wards took part in mission work'.26 This statement is not strictly accurate as Bridgman acknowledges the assistance of A-teh in 1847 and 1848. In a letter dated Canton, 18 March 1847, he writes that 'Leang Tsen Teh (A-fa's son) is now investigating the reli-gions of the Chinese and proposes to write a treatise to show to the Churches what the religions of the Chinese are'.27 In 1848, Bridgman moved to Shanghai and became a member of the Re-vision Committee of the Chinese Scriptures. He was accompanied by A-teh. He describes the procedure he followed in his Bible revision: T have Leang Tsen Teh who prepares a draft from the English version, this he reads to me while I follow and correct him from the Greek text. This then goes to Kiu Taijen and he makes the best Chinese of it he can, and a fair copy is prepared.'28 Not only did A-teh render scholarly assistance to the missionaries, but he finally declared his Christian faith in 1859 and was received by Bridgman into Church fellowship.29 This was only a few years
before Bridgman's death and it must have given him much joy to see this result of his many years of prayer, concern, spiritual nur-ture, and guidance of his student, protege, and foster-son.
Towards the end of his life, A-teh assisted Mr H.N. Lay in opening various Chinese maritime customs stations. Forfive years, he was head clerk and deputy commissioner at the customs office at Chaochow, Kwangtung. He continued with the customs until 1862 when, at the age of 42 years, his health failed and he returned to Canton, where he died.
Lin's interpreters were a varied group with diverse backgrounds and qualifications but they shared a missionary-sponsored educa-tion. The missionaries were interested in educating a group of Chinese who, through their training in Western literature and thought, could produce a body of Christian literature for use in the China mission, could collaborate in providing a more adequate version of the Scriptures, and would serve as a corps of educated evangelists and teachers for the Christian Church. In general, those who received a missionary education in English did not fulfil the hopes of their teachers. Most of them were attracted by the high pay they could command in business or government service because of their abilities in English. It was from this group, how-ever, that Chinese officials recruited the translators and inter-preters they needed when they became convinced of the necessity of acquiring reliable information concerning the West and its ways. Coming from a marginal group of Chinese who had rela-tions with foreigners, they served as an important medium in opening China to the West.
Commissioner Lin was one of the first of the official class to realize the importance of a knowledge of the West if China was to meet the challenge of foreign military power and commercial aggressiveness. Unfortunately, his efforts to handle foreign prob-lems were not successful and resulted in armed conflict and China's defeat by the British. But his intentions were enlightened, and his use of a corps of translators was a pioneer attempt to solve the problem of China's ignorance of the world of the West.
Wei A kwong, Compradore
The career of the first student on the rolls of the Morrison Educa-tion Society illustrates the role that English education played in the social mobility of the marginal Chinese community in the
treaty-port cities in the nineteenth century. The education of this student enabled him to enter into that group of Chinese known as 'the compradore class'. The compradores were influential in pro-posing, capitalizing, and managing the modernization and indus-trialization of China in the latter half of the century. They had received their business training and acquired their capital by func-tioning as 'middlemen' between the European merchant and the Chinese employees and business contacts of the foreign firm. It was a strategic position which called for a foot in two worlds. A background of ability in the English language and an understand-ing of European thought and manners usually ensured a rapid rise as a compradore. Wei Akwong, under the care of the missionaries, was provided with such a background.
Wei Akwong, who had the additional names of La-yam (#H) , Ying-wa (18�D), and Ting-po (S"S), was of the twentieth genera-tion of a family that had settled in the village of Tsoi Mei in Chung Shan District, Kwangtung Province, in the Sung dynasty. He was from a branch that had moved to Tsin Shan, a village about half-way between Tsoi Mei and Macau. His father was a compradore to two American merchants, Benjamin Chew Wilcocks, resident in China from 1813 to 1833, and Oliver H. Gorden, who was in China from 1826 to 1837. Akwong was the youngest of ten sons and his father died while he was still a child. His patron, the Revd E.C. Bridgman states that Akwong was forsaken by his parents and elder brothers and had to resort to begging on the streets of Macau. As an adult, he liked to contrast his affluence with the hard times of his youth.
As a leading member of the Chinese community in Hong Kong, Wei Akwong was consulted by Governor Hennessy about Chinese affairs. When asked to give his opinion on the treatment of crimi-nals, he could not support the liberal views of the Governor. In his reply, Akwong looks back on his life and attributes his strength of character and material success to the hard life and discipline of his youth.
At the age of ten I left my native place came to Macao, seeking employ-ment. First turn a beggar boy, afterwards get employment in a Portuguese firm Mano and Co. [perhaps De Mello and Company] Opium dealer, for bad treatment I left my employer and carried food for soldiers. I became sick and was sent by the British Consul 1838 to hospital stayed two weeks and was sent by Rev. Dr. Bridgman to Singapore as thefirst scholar of the Morrison Education board.
His story, as he recounts it, throws light on the treatment of child servants in some foreign households:
I said bad treatment from employer when I was a boy, at their service. Was in this way I was sent to market to buy the daily requisite of the servants cook and anything forgot to buy would be pinched by the ser-vants cook and in night time while attending the night meals of my Mr. and Mrs. I used to be very sleepy and after time was beaten and made to stand for one or two hours with a plate of cold water upon my head during winter time. In summer had to stand with both hands stretched out for half or one hour or put the two hands to hold my ears stoop up and down from two or three hundred times, that was the way I was treated and brought up to be a good boy to this present. Often time go to bed at 12 o'clock and get up before 5 a.m. fetched large jars of fresh fountain water before 6 then to clean and sweep the house, draw andfilled the two casks of water from the well, then received the market cash and buyfish, etc. for the meal when I had bought any stalefish made to go and change for good kind. Such treatment would not endure longer. I took the French leave without saying good buy [sic], had I been treated kindly with indulgence, I perhaps would be a bad boy same as those been turned away.30
Those 'turned away' were criminals who had been banished from the colony after receiving a flogging. Wei Akwong was a firm be-
liever in the old adage, 'Spare the rod, spoil the child'.
His humble, but somewhat dramatic origins are presented in the report read by the Revd Elijah Bridgman to the first annual meet-ing of the Morrison Education Society, held at Canton on 27 September 1837.
The first child whose name was entered on our list was a beggar. Forsaken by his parents and elder brothers, the poor boy was left to wander in the streets, unprovided with food, clothing, or shelter. In this forlorn state, he had become so emaciated and weak, that recourse to medical aid was necessary for his recovery. Even now he suffers from what he endured while a beggar. In this part of China, there are many such children, who must, unless relieved by charity, grow up in ignorance, or what has often happened, pine and die before reaching the age of manhood.31
The beggar boy was picked up on the streets of Macau, taken under Mr Bridgman's wing, and enrolled as a student of the Mor-rison Education Society. As a student of the Society, he was sent to Singapore by Bridgman, where he was placed under the care of the mission of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. John Robert Morrison, son of the Revd Robert Morri-son, mentions in a letter dated 24 July 1837 that the Society had
sent two children to Singapore 'to be educated in the family of one of the missionaries'.32 One of these students was Liang Tsen Teh, the 17-year-old son of the ordained Chinese evangelist, Liang A-fa.33 That the other student was Akwong is confirmed by the Minutes of the Singapore mission of the American Board for 28 November 1837, when the school committee was instructed to correspond with Mr Bridgman 'in the case of A-Kwong'.34 His name is on the roll of the American Board mission school dated 1 February 1840.35 'No. 5. A-Kwang, entered 1 February 1837, birth place Macao, age 12 years, sent from China by Mr. Bridgman and supported by Morrison Education Society'. He was one of the first twelve boys enrolled in the school in February 1837 and received an education in both English and Chinese there.
The school taught the boys to read and write Chinese, but great importance was attached to English. The headmaster reported in 1838:
If we hope to train them for teachers of their own people and preachers, if converted, we must, of course, carry them on in science and knowledge of all kinds, far beyond anything existing at present. We suppose it is now granted that those who are to receive anything like an education must be taught English. This being settled, the natural course of things will make the English Department the most important of the establishment.36
As in all the missionary schools, the main objective was the con-version of the students, but for this the missionary had to wait for the evidence of 'pious conviction' and the work of the Spirit. Therefore, they set out to 'discipline the mind and give them a knowledge of English, as the medium through which they should acquire knowledge'.37
The school was closed at the end of 1842 and Akwong returned to China. During hisfive years at school he had become competent in English, but his exposure to the Christian faith had not resulted in his conversion. In later life, Akwong expressed his appreciation to the Morrison Education Society for the opportunity it had provided him to acquire an education by becoming a member of the Society with an annual subscription of $75.38
When Akwong returned from Singapore, he joined the house-hold of the Revd E. Bridgman in Hong Kong, who continued his education. Bridgman states, in his semi-annual report to the mission board dated 20 July 1843, that 'Akwong, once a beggar, but who is now able to read the English Bible, is also under instruction'.39 Bridgman was supporting both Akwong and Liang Tsen Teh, with his young family. When A-Teh and his father, Liang A-fa, sold two marine lots in the Lower Bazaar in Hong Kong to Bridgman in December 1844, one of the witnesses to the Memorial was 'Wei Akwong, clerk to Dr. Bridgman'.40 In July 1845, Bridgman moved from Hong Kong to Canton. Wei Akwong remained behind in Hong Kong. The next notice of him is in 1852.
In that year, Dr Henry Julius Hirschberg, a missionary of the London Missionary Society, solicited contributions from the Chinese community in Hong Kong for the rebuilding of his dispen-sary and hospital, which had been burnt down in December 1851 in the disastrous fire which destroyed the Lower Bazaar. The res-ponse by the compradores of the leading firms and several of the most prominent Chinese merchants was gratifying to the foreign community, as it was the first instance in Hong Kong of the general Chinese population supporting a missionary enterprise.41 The list of contributors was printed in the China Mail and among the largest contributions was that of 'Wai Ah-kwong, Bowra and Company's compradore, $15'.42 Bowra and Company was the most prominent of the ship chandleries of that period in Hong Kong.
In April 1853, Wei Akwong's employer assigned him Inland Lot 187 A for the nominal consideration of $5. At the same time, the adjoining lot to the west, No. 200, was granted by C.W. Bowra to Ho A-seck, compradore of Lyall, Still and Company. In Decem-ber 1853, Wei Akwong and Ho A-seck, as tenants in common, bought Inland Lot 187, and in February 1854, when the Govern-ment put up for sale several forfeited lots, Wei Akwong bought Inland Lot 192 for himself and acted as agent for Ho A-seck for No. 196.43 These land transactions completed the proprietorship of Akwong and A-seck of the square bounded by Hollywood Road to the south, Gage Street to the north, Graham Street to the east, and Peel Street to the west, with the exception of Inland Lot 188, situated at the south-west corner of Graham and Gage Streets. Later, in 1862, Akwong bought a section of this lot as well.44
Wei Akwong left the employ of Bowra and Company in 1855 and in March was appointed Supreme Court Interpreter in Chinese and Malay at a monthly salary of $60. He found himself under pressure during the period of hostility between China and Britain provoked by the Arrow lorcha incident. The Chinese authorities issued an edict ordering all the Chinese in Hong Kong to return to their native places on the mainland. Many of them obeyed the order and left, but others were willing to identify them-selves with the future of Hong Kong in spite of official Chinese pressure and chose to remain. The China Mail of 30 April 1857 reports that Fuk, the sub-prefect of Caza Branca near Macau, issued warrants against natives of the district of Heung Shan: 'Cheong Achew, the well known carpenter, Tsun Atow, Messrs. Augustine Heard and Company's compradore, Lum Ayow, owner of the Lorcha "Good Chance" and Wei Akwong, formerly com-pradore of Bowra and Company and more lately Interpreter in the Supreme Court'.45
In spite of his refusal to leave Hong Kong, in time Wei Akwong re-established good relations with his home village. A garden which he built there is noted by a traveller in 1875. Leaving Macau and proceeding west past Green Island, he mentions that 'the right or northern shore of the river is lined with a succession of pretty villages, prominent among them may be mentioned that of Tsin Shan, the native place of Mr. Wai Kwong, well known in Hong Kong as a wealthy and liberal minded Chinaman. A very hand-some garden which he has built outside the walls of the town forms a prominent feature'.46
In 1857, the Mercantile Bank of India, London and China, with headquarters in Bombay, established a branch in Hong Kong. Their need for a competent compradore opened the way for Wei Akwong's further advancement. He faithfully served the bank until his death. Then, his eldest son, Wei Ayuk, who had been acting as assistant compradore, took over his father's position.
As the years passed and Akwong acquired capital, he invested in real estate.47 When he died, he left these properties in trust. It was not until 1957, more than a century after he had acquired his first property in Hong Kong, that the trust was dissolved.
The fact that Wei Akwong sent his eldest son to England for his education is evidence of the value he placed upon the opportuni-ties provided through his own missionary education. He, Wong Shing, also a former student of the Morrison Education Society School, and Ho A-seck were the first Chinese to finance the education of their children abroad independently. In 1867, each sent a son to study at the Stoneygate School at Leicester. After a year they transferred to Dollar Academy in Scotland. In 1869, Wong Shing forwarded �G100 to Dr James Legge to pay for the expenses of his son. In a covering letter he mentioned that 'the boy
Ho Asee is the son of a Chinese opium merchant here. His object in going to England is to be educated in English, as his parents are heathen, they care not anything about religion, and I hope you will do him much good in trying to teach him the truth as it is in Jesus'.48 The boys returned to Hong Kong in 1872 after completing a tour of Europe. Shortly afterwards, Wei Ayuk, the son of Wei Akwong, married the sister of his former schoolmate, Wong Yung-tsing. Her father, Wong Shing, was the second Chinese member of the Legislative Council, and her husband, Wei Ayuk, succeeded to this position in 1897. He served until 1914, and 'while not noted for long speeches, is regarded as an invaluable adviser in connec-tion with all legislation in any way touching the interests of his fellow countryman'.49
The Wei family genealogy contains a laudatory biography of Wei Akwong.50 It states that, while a student at Singapore, he became well versed in Western knowledge, especially the law. After returning to Hong Kong, 'where East and West meet', trials concerning Chinese litigants were referred to him. 'Many cases were dependent on the statements of Mr. Wei when judgment was passed. He tried to uphold justice, suppress the rascals and protect the innocent and upright.' This may refer partly to his work as interpreter in the Supreme Court and partly to his role as an un-official adviser to the Government. His biographical notice also extolled his fame as a shrewd and successful business man and praised him for his philanthropy.
Wei Akwong died in Hong Kong on 12 May 1878. The Daily Press carried a notice of his death on the following day.
We regret to have to announce the death on Saturday afternoon about five o'clock of Mr. Wai Kwong, compradore of the Chartered Mercantile Bank of India, London and China. Deceased, who had been more than 20 years in the employ of the Bank, was a leading member of the Tung Wah Hospital Committee, was on the Jury list, and always took a prominent part in any matter affecting the Chinese community. He was reputed to be one of the wealthiest of the Chinese residents in this colony.
Wei Akwong wrote his will in 1866.51 He prefaced it with a brief account of his life, particularly mentioning that he was the first student of the Morrison Education Society and that, since 1843, when he first came to Hong Kong, he had 'ever since lived under the just and equitable rule of the British Government'. He owned shares in a shop in Hong Kong and one in Macau. He instructed his sons to be obedient to the wishes and directions of their mother
and that 'they shall always conduct themselves with propriety, leading a steadfast and honest life'.
As executors of his will he appointed his wife, Ow Shee-ayoon, his clerk, Ho A-chee, and his friend, Cheong Tscheng-sai. Condi-tions changed and he wrote a codicil to his will in 1873. He stated that his wife had died in 1868, his clerk, A-chee, was in Shanghai as compradore of the Chartered Mercantile Bank, and his friend, Cheong, had moved to Macau. In their place he appointed his second wife, Ng She Yook-heng, 'a lady of Canton', his eldest son, Wei Wah-yuk, 'now returned from England', his third son, Wei Wah-sang, acting compradore of the Chartered Mercantile Bank in Shanghai, and his fourth son, Wei Wah-leen. He had a large family of fifteen sons, ten daughters and five concubines as well as his wives Ow and Ng. His eldest son was knighted in 1919 as Sir Poshan Wei. Two sons, Wei On and Wei Pui, practised law in Hong Kong. Several other sons were compradores.
Wei Akwong's fortunes had led him from the compassionate concern of a missionary for an emaciated beggar boy on the streets of Macau to wealth and leadership in the Chinese community of Hong Kong.
Tsang Lai-sun
Professor John K. Fairbank of the Harvard-Yenching Institute, in an address to the Royal Asiatic Society during his visit to Hong Kong in 1976, referred to the importance of the study of what he termed 'China coast culture', by which he meant the type of social groups, values, and institutions that emerged from the comming-ling of diverse traditions in the port cities of China. He suggested that an understanding of the forces that created this social milieu and an analysis of its structure and operation might provide mod-els for life as it is developing in an age of rapid cultural inter-change.52
This study of one family which formed a part of the China coast culture illustrates some strands in its creation and emergence as a distinct way of life, with its own values and manners. This new life-style is seen in the family of Tsang Lai-sun in such features as the intermingling of Chinese and foreign home decoration; changed attitudes towards certain Chinese practices, such as the social mingling of sexes, foot-binding, dress, and the wearing of the queue; the employment in a Chinese setting of language, educational, and scientific skills acquired as a result of a Western-style training; and marriage across racial boundaries.
The careers of Tsang (or Chan) Lai-sun53 and his children illus-trate the role marginal Chinese played in the Westernization of China. Chan's mother was probably Malay. His wife, Ruth A-tik, was born in Indonesia and was not of pure Chinese ancestry. In a list of members of the Presbyterian Mission Church at Ningpo for 1850, she is described as 'Indo-Chinese'. Both, as children, came under the patronage of foreigners and both received an English-language education. Miss Aldersey, the patron of Ruth A-tik, first in Bat a via and then in Ningpo, mentions Ruth and her friend, Christiana A-kit, in the annual report of the London Tract Society for 1847:
I have two young women Indo-Chinese converts, who, fleeing from per-secution, joined me in this country [China]. They have applied themselves to the study of the English language since their arrival in the north, and one of them in particular is thirsty for the intelligence which that language opens out to her. Her desire for information has reference especially to religious subjects.
As we shall note, A-tik's home after her marriage to Lai-sun was what nineteenth-century missionaries called 'pious', but piety was connected with a concern for a modern education for Chinese girls and for some years she taught in a missionary school in Shanghai.
Tsang Lai-sun was the son of a poor gardener in Singapore. He attracted the attention of a missionary of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions while serving at the table of the American Consul in Singapore. He was enrolled in their school and was baptized. His parents died, leaving him an orphan. When the school was disbanded at the end of 1842, he was taken to the United States by Mr Morrison, a Presbyterian missionary. He was put into Mr Rendall's school in East Bloomfield, New Jersey. He studied there until 1846. Mr Morrison was about to return to Asia and wished to see him settled with definite arrangements for his further education in America. Samuel Wells Williams of the American Board, who was in the United States at the time, arranged for him to receive free instruction at Hamilton College in Utica, New York, for two years. His support was provided by the ladies of the First Presbyterian Church of Utica and his clothes by the ladies of a church in Brooklyn. His college term ended in June 1848 and he returned to China with Mr Williams. Upon his return, he was engaged as an assistant with the American Board mission in Canton. His mother tongue was Malay, though his father was from the Chiu Chow area of Kwangtung Province. He had lost almost all knowledge of the Chinese he had known and had to engage a language teacher to relearn it. In July 1850, he married one of the two girls Miss Aldersey had brought with her from Java to Ningpo in 1843. In 1853, dissatisfied with the wages of a missionary assis-tant, he withdrew from the service of the American Board at Can-ton and went to Shanghai where he became quite successful in business.
He first entered the firm of Messrs Bower, Hanbury and Com-pany, where he became a close friend of Mr Thomas Hanbury, one of the partners. He then set up his own business in partnership with Mr H.E. Clapp of the firm Clapp and Company, but the ven-ture was not a success, so Lai-sun joined the staff of Viceroy Tso Tsung-t'ang at Foochow, where he was appointed instructor and subsequently superintendent of the Foochow Naval School. He left the school to become a member of the Chinese Educational Mission in 1872.
He was acquainted with Yung Wing, a graduate of the Morrison Education Society School in Hong Kong and of Yale University. Yung Wing engaged Lai-sun's co-operation in promoting the Chinese Educational Mission in 1872. Tsang Lai-sun was placed in charge of the school established at Shanghai to prepare the students for their journey to America. He accompanied the Chinese Educa-tional Mission to America in 1872, together with his wife and six children. His old teacher, Mr Tracy, relates in 1873 that Lai-sun's two eldest sons would enter college in two more years, and his two daughters, who had been educated partly in England, were to become members of Dr Buckingham's Church at Springfield, Massachusetts. While living in Springfield, he became a member of the Hampden Lodge of Freemasons of that city.54
Returning to China in 1874, Lai-sun joined the staff of Viceroy Li Hung-chang as an interpreter. He served as chief secretary at the Chefoo Convention in 1876 and until the time of his death assisted at the many transactions Viceroy Li carried out with for-eign powers. He was to have joined Li in his mission to Japan after the Sino-Japanese War, but Li excused him saying, 'You are old and so am I; but I have to go because there is no help for it.'
A missionary educator visited their home at Shanghai. Her account, published in 1857, shows how Tsang Lai-sun and his wife combined their Western-type education with the life-style of the Chinese community in which they lived.55
At the time of the visit, Yung Wing was a guest in the home. The missionary visitor noted that Yung Wing greeted her 'with quite an American air', though he had to admit he had forgotten her name. When Yung Wing, even then interested in education, asked if he could visit the girl's school under the missionary's charge, she politely turned him down as she felt that, since the girls were so modest and unaccustomed to a male presence at the school, it would unduly upset them, but she turned to Mrs Tsang and her friend, Christiana A-Kit, wife of Kew Teen-shang, and asked their opinion on the matter. They said they never objected to associating on social and friendly terms with Christian gentle-men. 'But,' said Kit, 'when merchants or other heathen men call to see Attee's husband, she always retires.' Yung Wing remarked, 'When I was in the United States as a student, I often visited young ladies' seminaries and they never objected, in fact, I think they rather liked it.'
The missionary lady took the occasion to probe a little deeper into the attitudes of American-educated Chinese, posing the ques-tion,
'And you liked the manners and customs of the women in the United States?'
'Oh, yes.'
'And having returned to China, how is it? Are you diligently seeking for a young lady with bound feet for a wife?�Xone who must stay at home because she can't walk?'
'No, indeed', Yung Wing said, adding with a touch of humour that he wished for a wife who would be able to run with him should ever the need arise.
The conversation had struck a sensitive issue for these Chinese who had been trained in values very different from those of their contemporaries. With some feeling, Lai-sun's wife spoke out:
'How can this cruel custom be abolished, when Christian women, by binding their own and their children's feet, are handing it down to future generations?'
'Aside from religion,' remarked Yung Wing, 'the practice is barbarous, cruel and atrocious.'
Their changed attitudes towards certain aspects of Chinese life were reflected not only in their conversation but also in the fur-nishing of their home. The missionary lady commented on the 'nice parlor' fitted out with both foreign and Chinese furniture. 'Most conspicuous was a very nice organ, with which the good man accompanies himself in singing the songs of Zion.'
Tsang Lai-sun died on 2 June 1895 in Tientsin. His obituary was published in the North China Daily News, on which his son, Spencer, was a reporter, and republished in Hong Kong in the Daily Press on 12 June 1895.
At the time of his death, Tsang Lai-sun was survived by his widow, two sons and two daughters. He was predeceased by his son, William, and a daughter. The death notice of his widow, who died at the age of 92 on 17 January 1917, was published in the Chinese Recorder.56 Her son, Spencer T. Lai-sun, had died only thirteen days before.
Spencer had been educated at Queen's College, Hong Kong, before being taken to the United States by his father at the inau-guration of the Chinese Educational Mission in 1872. He and his elder brother, Elijah, attended Yale University. According to his obituary,57 Spencer had an 'extra-ordinary command of English' and was remarkably well informed on Chinese affairs, being one of the first to forecast the gravity of the Boxer Uprising. He was simultaneously on the staff of a Chinese-language newspaper, the Hu Pao, and of an English-language newspaper, the North China Daily News, both published at Shanghai. In 1911, he abandoned his newspaper career and as an expectant taotai joined the staff of Viceroy Tuan Fang at Nanking. Early in his career, in 1885, he undertook a special mission to India. When a reporter on the Times of India interviewed him, he was impressed with Spencer's European-style clothing and the absence of a queue; he was said to have been given special permission for the latter by the Chinese authorities.
During his school-days in Hong Kong, Spencer had become ac-quainted with the family of the Revd Ho Fuk-tong, most probably because he was a regular attender of the Chinese congregation which met in the afternoons at Union Church. He married Ho Man-kwai, the daughter of the pastor. She died in Shanghai in 1894 at the early age of 28, leaving a young daughter, Daisy.
The other two daughters of Tsang Lai-sun married Europeans. The husband of the eldest daughter was a Danish ship's captain,
N.P. Andersen. He had seen service in the Taiping revolution and had had a long career on the staff of the coastal Chinese customs. He was somewhat older than his wife and married in middle age. Mrs Andersen was one of the founders of the Chinese Red Cross Society, serving as its first Vice-President. In recognition of her services, the Chinese Emperor granted her a large honorary board. Their only daughter, K. Ruth Andersen, married Donald
R. McEuen, son of a former captain superintendent of police at Shanghai in 1905.
A younger daughter of Tsang Lai-sun married a business man, Mr W. Buchanan, presumably the same as the Buchanan listed in the 1884 Chronicle and Directory of China as a land agent and broker with J.P. Bisset and Company of Shanghai.
This, then, is a record of a Chinese family living in a marginal situation. Both Lai-sun and his wife were born in South-east Asian overseas Chinese communities. Both in childhood became caught up in English-language missionary education, which served to alienate them further from Chinese tradition. Lai-sun started his career as a missionary assistant, but to make better provision for his growing family he turned to business, associating himself with foreign business men, not as compradore but as assistant and part-ner. However, the very fact of his marginal background qualified him, as a member of Li Hung-chang's staff, to make a particular contribution to China's developing relations with foreign powers. His children received a solid Western-style education. Of the two sons who grew to maturity, one was an engineer, the other a jour-nalist, and both for a part of their career served the Chinese Gov-ernment. His daughters left the Chinese community, but the eldest took her place in public life as a founder of the Chinese Red Cross.
This partial reconstruction of the life history of one China coast family is perhaps more than a mere exercise in reconstructing a family history from scattered sources. It can also be viewed as an illustration of the social processes at work in creating a distinctive culture in the port cities of China, including Hong Kong.
Whether as translators, advisers to Government or compra-dores, the students of the first mission schools became a new type of middleman, assisting Chinese and foreigners to relate to each other both in confrontation and in adaptation.
THE Christian element in the Taiping rebellion has been of special interest to interpreters of the movement. It was this non-Chinese factor which made the rebellion different from all previous Chinese rebel movements. Through its Christian elements, the rebels were expressing one aspect of the effect of increasing West-ern influence on Chinese national life.
The precise relationship between Christianity and the origin and development of the movement has been a matter of debate. One aspect of the problem is the relationship established between fa-mily members and friends of the originators of the movement and the missionaries. On the one hand, there was a tendency for these relations and friends to seek out the missionary in the course of the disruption to their lives caused by their connection with the rebel leaders. They especially looked to the missionaries for financial assistance in their efforts to join the movement once it had been successfully established at Nanking. On the other hand, the mis-sionary vision and hope had been stimulated by the early, but con-fusing, reports of the Christian nature of the rebel movement. The missionaries welcomed the opportunity to learn more about the movement from first-hand accounts. It was a small book written by the Revd Theodore Hamberg in Hong Kong on the visions of Hung Hsiu-ch'uan which first gave the outside world detailed knowledge of the Christian influence upon the rebels. Most of the subsequent accounts of the movement draw heavily upon the material recorded by Hamberg, who received it through Hung Hsiu-ch'uan's cousin, Hung Jen-kan.
The missionaries were eager to use the refugees, who were phy-sically cut off from the movement by the troops of the Imperial Government, for they hoped that through these converts, whom they financed in their efforts to reach the areas controlled by the Taiping Government, they might influence the movement. Since they believed that those converts who had been under their in-struction were better grounded in the fundamentals of the Chris-tian faith than the Taiping leaders at Nanking, the missionaries expected their converts to strengthen the Christian element in the movement and correct some of its reported misconceptions
in doctrine and aberrations in practice. They also hoped that, through the good offices of these converts, once they had estab-lished themselves at Nanking, the missionary would, in time, be able to join them.
The most prominent of these individuals was Hung Jen-kan, a distant cousin of the Taiping leader, Hung Hsiu-ch'uan. He be-came the kan wang (shield king) in the Taiping Government at Nanking in 1859 and was executed in November 1864, after the fall of Nanking.
Hung Jen-kan accompanied Hung Hsiu-ch'uan to Canton for Christian instruction under the Revd Issachar Roberts in 1847. * After a month's instruction, they were sent out on a preaching tour in the course of which they returned to their home district, Hua-hsien, Kwangtung. Jen-kan did not return to Canton with Hsiu-ch'uan for further studies but remained at home to study medicine.
While Hung Hsiu-ch'uan had been preaching near his home in Kwangtung and studying with Roberts at Canton, Feng Yun-shan, a friend of his who had also been influenced by Christian ideas, had been gathering a group of followers in Kwangsi. They adopted the name The Society of God Worshippers' and were the nucleus from which the Taiping movement developed. The usual accounts of the movement attribute its origins to the activity of Hung Hsiu-ch'uan. This interpretation rests heavily on the account given in Theodore Hamberg's booklet, The Visions of Hung Siu-Tschuen and Origin of the Kwangsi Insurrection, published in Hong Kong in 1854, and on various documents of the movement which were written after the death of Feng Yun-shan. There are several con-temporary references which point to Feng as the more active leader in the movement's initial phases. An account given of him by a deserter from the Taiping army and a former member of Gutzlaff's Chinese Christian Union, published in The Hong Kong Register on 27 September 1853, states that, when he met Feng in Kwangsi, they recognized each other as fellow-members of the Union. According to the account, Feng had studied under Gutzlaff. I have carefully gone over the rather detailed reports Gutzlaff sent back to Germany reporting the activities of the Chinese Christian Union, hoping that he might have mentioned Feng, but I was un-able to find him named. Gutzlaff, however, does report trips made by his workers into Kwangsi, where they preached and distributed tracts. These reports were published in the Calwer Missionsblatt and Gaihan's Chinesische Berichte.
When Hung Hsiu-ch'uan left Roberts and Canton in the late spring of 1847, he travelled to Kwangsi in search of Feng, arriving there in August. In Roberts' journal, in the entry for 25 June 1847, he states that two of his followers were appointed to visit the inquirer, Hung, in a different province.2
Several efforts were initiated to take the families and followers of the Taiping leaders to Kwangsi from Kwangtung, but the plans were frustrated by the authorities. Some were caught and impris-oned, others scattered and fled. The friends and relatives of the leaders of the Taipings were rooted out of their native districts and at the same time cut off from the troops of the rebellion as it ad-vanced from Kwangsi to Nanking. Branches of some clans appear to have settled in Hsin-an District, adjacent to Hong Kong. Many of the people moved in and out of Hong Kong. These movements left traces in the reports and records of the missions, but they are not complete enough to provide a comprehensive account.
The various adventures and travels of Hung Jen-kan before he reached Nanking in 1856 are documented in the writings of Jen Yu-wen.3 A few additional details are provided by missionary archival sources.
In 1852, Hung Jen-kan was brought to Hong Kong by a young tailor from Lilong (Li-lang ($68)) in Hsin-an District. He was the grandson of a clansman of Hung, who had befriended Jen-kan during his wanderings. The grandson, Fung (Hung?) Sen,4 had been under the instruction of the Revd Theodore Hamberg be-fore being baptized. On 26 April 1852, Fung Sen introduced Hung Jen-kan to Hamberg. Two days later, Fung was baptized with ten others in the small chapel belonging to the Basel Missionary Society in Hong Kong. The entry in Hamberg's report lists him as Tung Asen, aged 21 years, from Lilong, tailor's worker.' When Hamberg left Hong Kong at the end of March 1853 to establish a station at Pukak (Pu-kit (^ or), Hsin-an District), Fung Sen ac-companied him. He was employed by the mission as a watchman.
A biographical notice of one of the Taiping refugees, Li Tsin-kau ($Effi), which was published in the missionary magazine of the Basel Missionary Society, Die Evangelischen Heidenboten, in June 1868, provides interesting sidelights on Hung Jen-kan's un-successful effort to reach Nanking in 1854. It also illustrates the connections established between missionaries and those who had been influenced by personal association with Hung Hsiu-ch'uan before he became the Taiping wang.
Li Tsin-kau was a native of Wo Kuk Lyang, in Ch'ing-yuan Dis-trict, Kwangtung. Hung Hsiu-ch'uan had been a teacher in the household of the maternal grandfather of Li Tsin-kau, and Tsin-kau's father was a good friend of Hsiu-ch'uan. He had often heard his father tell of Hung and his visions. Was the father the Li Ching-fan who drew the attention of Hung to Liang A-fa's Christian tract? Hung himself often visited Wo Kuk Lyang. During these visits there would be discussions about the moral and political con-ditions of China and hopes expressed that these could be improved and the rule of Heaven (fien-kud) established. Hung Hsiu-ch'uan and Li Tsin-kau discussed especially the benefits of fasting and abstaining from meats and the worship of idols. Tsin-kau remem-bered that Hung spoke often of the power of God to conquer the demons. He also spoke of Jesus as 'our Heavenly Brother who forgave men's sins', but this was not the main theme of Hung's thoughts, 'It was as though it had not much touched his heart
(Wenigstens sei es ihm nicht sehr zu Herzen gegangenf.
Li Tsin-kau was caught up in the displacement of former friends and relatives of the Taiping leaders. When the authorities frus-trated the plan to join the Taiping movement in Kwangsi, he fled to Macau. He lost track of his brothers and father, and later be-lieved that they were imprisoned. His mother was taken in and cared for by friends of the family, and his wife and children fled to her parents' home. Tsin-kau tried to make a living by travelling about the area between Macau and Canton offering his services as afeng-shui expert. After a time, he moved east to the districts of Kuei-shan and Po-lo. After more than a year, he ventured to re-turn to his home district. Here he met up with Hung Jen-kan. The two of them, accompanied perhaps by other friends and relatives, came to Hong Kong, hoping that they could from there find a way to join Hung Hsiu-ch'uan at Nanking, the capital of the Taiping kingdom. As Hakkas, they sought out the missionaries of the Basel Missionary Society, which had devoted itself to work among this dialect group. Jen-kan met the Revd Theodore Hamberg for a second time at Pu-kit in Hsin-an District. There he received fur-ther instruction in preparation for baptism and was baptized on 20 September 1853. Hamberg reports six baptisms on this date. The first was Tung or Hung, from Faheen, aged 31 years, teacher and doctor', of whom he remarks that he was a relative and youth-ful friend of Hung Hsiu-ch'uan, the Taiping wang. Four others
were members of the Kong family of Lilong, and the sixth was Tung Tet-schin, from Thatipun, aged 31 years, schoolteacher'.
Li Tsin-kau did not remain at Pu-kit with Jen-kan but continued on to Hong Kong with two friends, Khi-sem and A-kap. They were welcomed by the missionaries and taken on as inquirers to receive instruction. The Revd Rudolph Lechler had returned from his station in the country to await the arrival of his fiancee from Germany. He assisted Hamberg in the instruction of the new arri-vals. The basis of the instruction was the Lutheran catechism. In the light of it, Li Tsin-kau confessed that previously he had held a dis-torted view of the Christian faith. He had understood, under the influence of Hung Hsiu-ch'uan, 'the discourses concerning the power of God and false idols, but had no understanding of sin and forgiveness through Christ'. His prayer had been patterned after a form taught by Hsiu-ch'uan. After three months' instruc-tion, he was baptized by Hamberg, although he had some years previously been baptized by Hung Hsiu-ch'uan at the urging of Hung Jen-kan. The daybook of the Revd R. Lechler in the Ar-chives of the Basel Missionary Society for 28 February 1854 has an entry of the baptism of four men who were instructed by Hamberg at Hong Kong: 'Li Khi Lim, from Tseang ye, Li Hin Long, from Tseang ye, Li Chin Kau, from Tseang ye, and Fun Shen Fong from Tung Kwun.' In September there is an entry for 'Li Khi Sen, from Tseang ye'. This is probably the friend, Khi-sem, who was one of Tsin-kau's travelling companions.
The Hong Kong missionaries were delighted with the arrival of these refugees who were willing to receive Christian instruction and baptism. They seized upon their desire to join their relatives and friends in Nanking as a God-given opportunity to give the Taiping movement a more solid Christian foundation. There had been much discussion about the type of religious belief held by the Taiping leaders, and serious doubt had arisen regarding their in-terpretation of Christianity. Hamberg hoped to raise sufficient funds through his publication of The Visions of Hung Siu-Tschuen and Origin of the Kwangsi Insurrection to finance Hung Jen-kan's trip to Nanking. In reporting to the Basel Missionary Society, he states:
I have spent much on Fung [the Hakka version of the surname Hung] and his friends, and in order not to put a burden on the Mission have trans-lated into English the account of thefirst [i.e. Hung Jen-kan] and written a
small book which is now ready to be printed. Fung and his two friends left today for Shanghai. I have furnished them with the three different transla-tions of the Old and New Testaments, Barth's Biblical History, Genahr's Catechism, a calendar and other writings, also a map in Chinese of the world, a map of China and one of Palestine, a model of a steel punch, copper matrizes and the usual types, in order to show how Chinese charac-ters can be printed in the European manner. In addition a few trifles, such as telescope, compass, thermometer, knives, etc. I am often asked if I will go to Nan-King, however I have decided, and will not change my mind, that I will not go until I have received a regular and definite invita-tion to go. I have sought to establish what my obligations and duties are in this matter. The people who were brought to me I have baptized, in-structed and assisted them on the way insofar as I was able. I believe that Fung respected me and would like to see me in Nanking, as he so often said. However, we cannot be definite about it, because we do not yet know if he will be successful in arriving at Nanking, and further, we can-not be sure that his friend there will welcome the idea, or that no obstacle will be placed in the way of foreigners, or that they have a real desire to be led deeper into the truths of God's words. In a word, everything is very uncertain. We must lay the future of the whole mission, even as our own, into the hands of God.5
Hamberg's earthly future was quite short for he died nine days after writing the above.
Hung Jen-kan and Li Tsin-kau encountered misfortunes in their efforts to reach Nanking by way of Shanghai. Hamberg had given them a letter of recommendation to the London Missionary Soci-ety agent at Shanghai, the Revd W.H. Medhurst. Medhurst housed them on their arrival in the mission hospital. In Shanghai, they met a friend from Canton whom they invited to share these quarters. This friend smoked opium, and when Medhurst happened to come into the room and saw his opium pipe on the bed, they were all told to leave. A dispute arose between Jen-kan and Tsin-kau, with Jen-kan charging Tsin-kau with carelessness and sensuality. Tsin-kau remarks:
At that time, I was truly in distress, for I had no friend in the world and no money with which to return to Hong Kong. I felt I must certainly come to misfortune. But this was the point when a change occurred in my heart. I was altogether fallen into the depth, then God took me in judg-ment of my sins, and the Spirit of God did its powerful work in me. The Shepherd of my life took over and from now on I gave my life to him. The Lord changed Medhurst's heart and he gave me money to return to Hong Kong.6
Jen-kan also returned to Hong Kong, as he was not able to pass through the Imperial lines to reach Nanking.
When Li Tsin-kau arrived back in Hong Kong, he immediately sought out the Revd R. Lechler, who gave him $2 to return to his home up-country. After visiting his family, he went to the mission station at Pu-kit and was taken on as a helper. When hostilities broke out in 1856 over the Arrow lorcha incident, Lechler had to leave Pu-kit and retire to Hong Kong. He took with him Li Tsin-kau, whom he placed in the newly opened hospital of the Berlin Missionary Society operated by Dr Heinrich Gocking. Li served as an overseer and doctor's assistant until the hospital was forced to close for lack of funds in 1859.
Meanwhile, his former travelling companion, Hung Jen-kan, had made a second and successful effort to reach Nanking. Estab-lished there in a responsible position, he wrote to Li Tsin-kau, inviting him to join him. Tsin-kau set off for Nanking but turned back before arriving there, because, as he claimed, he had heard alarming accounts of the religious and moral aberrations of Hung Hsiu-ch'uan. On his return to Hong Kong, he was taken on by Lechler as a helper in his ministry to the Hakka population in Hong Kong.
Li Tsin-kau continued as a valuable assistant in the Basel mis-sion in Hong Kong, serving as a catechist until his death in 1885. For some years in the 1860s he was a travelling preacher, using Hong Kong as his home base. His mother, wife and children, and a younger brother joined him in Hong Kong and all of them became members of the Basel Missionary Society congregation on High Street, Sai Ying Pun. In 1858, he mentions a brother, Schiu-siu, in California. The eighth report of the Berlin Society, for the years 1861 and 1862, mentions A-tat, the unbaptized brother of the Basel mission helper Lichenko.
Li Tsin-kau,7 after his initial efforts to join the Taiping forces, spent the remainder of his life serving the Church in Hong Kong. However, his friend, Hung Jen-kan, became an importantfigure in the Taiping Government under the title kan wang. Before assum-ing this political role, he was a valued assistant in the Protestant mission work in Hong Kong. While Li Tsin-kau worked among the Hakkas under the direction of the Revd Rudolph Lechler, of the Basel Missionary Society, Hung Jen-kan worked with the Revd Dr James Legge, of the London Missionary Society, among the Cantonese-speaking population.
Dr Legge took an interest in the Taiping movement and saw within it potential for providing a turning-point in the relation of the Christian Church with the whole of China. In the summer of 1853, he sent two of his assistants to Shanghai to open communica-tion with the Taiping Government so as to prepare the way for a missionary to enter Nanking. The delegation consisted of a long-time assistant in the London Missionary Society, Keuh A-gong, alias Wat Ngong (JSiSiS), and a young theological student of Dr Legge's school, Ng Mun-sow (^5:51). Their efforts were un-successful, so after spending six months in Shanghai, they returned to Hong Kong.8
We have already noted the unsuccessful effort of Hung Jen-kan and Li Tsin-kau to reach Nanking by way of Shanghai in 1854. Upon returning to Hong Kong, Jen-kan became a language teacher for the Revd John Chalmers of the London Missionary Society, but soon began to be used extensively in the various ac-tivities of the mission, preaching in their Lower Bazaar Chapel, visiting prisoners in the gaol, and serving as an evangelist to the sick in the dispensary recently opened by Dr Julius Hirschberg on Queen's Road West. Legge characterized him as 'a man who has won my affection and esteem as few of his countrymen have done', and he impressed Dr Wong Fun, who had recently returned from Medical School at Edinburgh and was associated with Dr Hirsch-berg in the dispensary, as 'a man of great intelligence and con-siderable fluency of speech'.9
In 1858, with the blessing of the mission, Hung Jen-kan, with a companion, made another effort to reach Nanking, but this time travelling up through Canton and Kwangsi. In a letter dated 5 June 1858, the Revd John Chalmers remarks on his and Jen-kan's hopes:
He has had a desire for a long time to reach his friends at Nanking and endeavour to impart to them the superior knowledge he has acquired, and I doubt not the fact that the present government is so hardly pressed from without had induced him to adventure upon the long and dangerous jour-ney across the country from Canton in hopes that the Nanking party may be persuaded to seek an alliance with foreigners before it is too late. Of course his religious zeal is associated with patriotic feelings. We have always thought that if he could get among the Taiping people he might be the means of correcting many of their errors with regard to Christianity and to foreigners, from whom they have received it.10
The London Missionary Society at Hong Kong financed the trip
and agreed to grant a monthly allowance of $7 for his family for ten months or until Jen-kan himself was able to provide for them.
In the course of his journey, Jen-kan wrote five letters to the Society at Hong Kong, but only three were received. One written from Hupei states that:
Unexpectantly on 16th October, I was seized and searched by Imperialist guards. They only found some medical books and money. On the 19th I made my escape to Yaou Chow and on the 14th of November eight officers who wished to leave the Imperial service took me to Lung Ping in the province of Hoo Peh. I am safely lodged with two men of my own prov-ince Soo [Loo?] Keen and Seu [Leu?] Yuen, who are disgusted with the monstrous behavior of the Imperial soldiers and have been the means of saving a few long haired men from their hands. Some members of their family being in the Provincial city of Yean King (held by the rebels) they wished to give me several hundred thousand cash to take there for the purposes of trade. But just as I was about hiring a junk to go, the long haired men arrived at Hwang Mei (in Hoo Peh) so I stayed a short time here to see whether I could go to Hwang Mei or not. However on the first of December, four steamers made their appearance, I was told they were English, French and American, I embrace this opportunity of writing to
11
you.
After he arrived at Nanking there was little communication be-tween Jen-kan and his former patrons. The monthly allowance for his family guaranteed by the Society ceased in September 1859, but Legge and Chalmers agreed to continue the support on their own to the end of the year, when Jen-kan's wife returned with her children to her home village in Fu-yuan, Kwangtung.
Although Hung Jen-kan did try to interpret the West to the Taiping movement, he soon became caught up in its internal power struggle and found that it was not expedient to push the mis-sionary interests. This added to the growing disillusionment of the missionaries, who had seen the rebel movement as the golden opportunity for the Christianization of China. In August 1860, Legge commented, with regard to Hung Jen-kan, that he was 'sorry to see that he has given up his principles on the subject of polygamy. It does not appear whether he has become a polygamist himself, but he keeps silence among the other chiefs on the sub-ject', and again in January 1861, Legge states that the Revd Dr Griffith John had had an interview with Hung Jen-kan which led him to conclude that 'he is sacrificing what he knows to be right
and true to a miserable expediency'. Legge comments, 'my own
disappointment is great.'12
A brother of Hung Jen-kan named Sy-poe (Wl%) was baptized by Legge in Hong Kong at the beginning of 1859.13 In August 1860, Sy-poe went to Canton to bring his own family and that of his brother to Hong Kong. They had a difficult time maintaining themselves in Hong Kong until Hung Jen-kan sent them $5,000 from Nanking. This enabled them to rent a house and live more in a style befitting relatives of one of the Taiping kings. To celebrate his second marriage, Dr Legge and his new wife entertained their Chinese friends and associates at a feast of twelve tables with some thirty courses. Mrs Legge remarks, in a letter dated 24 August 1860, that 'Sy-poe seemed very desirous I should honour his table ... We had a letter from the Rebel King, he congratulates Dr. Legge on his marriage'. Sy-poe is not mentioned again by the missionaries, but in 1871, Dr Legge states that his son came to the mission house requesting a recommendation for the position of watchman. Legge states, 'He is an honest-looking lad�Xbut alas, that the glory of the Taiping's should thus have passed away'.14
Reports in the Archives of the Basel Missionary Society men-tion Fung Khui-syu, born in 1848, 'son of a Taiping King'. He must be Hung K'uei-yuan (^8%) alias K'uei-hsiu (HH), the son of Hung Jen-kan.15 He was employed by the Society as a teacher, first on the mainland, but then, because of the danger to himself and his family created by his former association with the rebellion, he was removed to Hong Kong to teach in the mission's girls' school at Sai Ying Pun.16 In 1873, a marriage was arranged by Mrs Lechler between Fung Khui-syu, then teaching at Tshong-hang-kang (ft#CiI) in Hsin-an District, and one of the older girls in the Society's boarding-school at Hong Kong. The bride, Tsen A-lin, alias En-min, was an orphan. As a young girl, she had been sold by her mother in Shanghai and brought to Hong Kong to work in a brothel; but she had been found wandering in the streets by a member of the Basel Missionary Society congregation and was taken to the mission house. In 1865, at the age of 12, she was enrolled as a student, and was baptized in 1870, when she received the name Lin (ft), meaning 'compassion', in place of Tchuy-khuyk (Ch'iu-chu (fA^O), meaning 'autumn chrysanthemum'.17
In 1878, a large part of the congregation of the Basel Mission Church at Shau Kei Wan, Hong Kong, emigrated to Demerara,
British Guiana. Fung Khui-syu went with them. The 1885 yearly report of the Revd R. Lechler states:
In Georgetown is a Chinese Church and one of our emigrants has been placed there as Pastor. He is the relative of the former rebel king Fung Syu-tshen, and himself, at the time of the Government of Taipings in Nanking, was made king. He found his way to Hong Kong and was re-ceived at our table. I sent him later to Lilong, where he served under Brother Bellon in the boy's school. Because of his relation to the Rebel King, it was difficult on the mainland so he came to Hongkong until 1878, when he emigrated with those of Shaukiwan.18
A search of the records of British Guiana might provide details of his later career.
Lechler's daybook in the entry for 12 January 1871 mentions a visit from Tsau-phoi, a member of the Fung family of Tsim Sha Tsui, and on 18 February 1871 he notes that Fung A-lin from Tsim Sha Tsui returned to the girls' school at Sai Ying Pun. It is probable that Fung Tsau-phoi and Fung A-lin were the son and daughter of 'a former Rebel King', who is referred to in the records of the girls' boarding-school of the Basel mission at Sai Ying Pun. A report dated 10 July 1866 lists as a student, Lyu Tsya, aged 18 years, 'betrothed to a son of a former Rebel King, who long has put away the crown, baptized by the Berlin Missionary Hanspach in her home'. Also listed is Fung A-lin, the small sister of the young man. She had been enrolled in 1865, aged 7 years. Her mother was a widow and a Christian.
Keeping in mind that the Hakka version of the surname Hung was written Fung and that the entries in Lechler's daybook were written in an illegible script, it may be that Fung Tsau-phoi is the same as the Hung Tsun Fooi mentioned in T'ai-p'ing t'ien-kuo shih-shih jih-chih ('k2^^H^^ 0 |�G)19 as being present in Hong Kong after the fall of the Taiping Government.
Two relatives of Feng Yun-shan, a 21-year-old nephew, A-sou (SIS), and his 14-year-old cousin, accompanied the Revd Issachar
J. Roberts to Shanghai in 1853, in an attempt to reach Nanking. A-sou was baptized by Roberts at Shanghai. The Baptist mission-ary, the Revd Matthew T. Yates, became acquainted with the two boys, but in his book The Tai Ping Rebellion, he mistakenly states that they were brothers of Feng Yun-shan.
Fung A-sou found it impossible to reach Nanking, so he came to Hong Kong. From there he went to Canton, where he became
a teacher to an American missionary. But he became ill and returned to Hong Kong, where he died on 21 August 1855.
These accounts of some of the events in the lives of friends and relatives of Taiping leaders and their association with the mission-ary movement in China illustrate the impact that the Christian aspect of the Taiping ideology had on individuals connected with it in a peripheral way. The Taiping rebellion upset the even tenor of their former village life. They became refugees. However, most had an objective: they wished to join their former village clansmen and neighbours at the Taiping capital, Nanking. A few were suc-cessful; more, perhaps, were not.
Having been influenced previously by the confused Christian ideas promulgated by Hung Hsiu-ch'uan and Feng Yun-shan dur-ing the period before the outbreak of open hostilities between the Imperial forces and the Taiping revolutionaries, they naturally sought out the missionaries for assistance and employment and were also receptive to more thorough training in the Christian faith. The missionaries welcomed them as a means of relating to the Taiping movement with its promise of the establishment of a new dynasty on Christian principles. The promise was never rea-lized and the missionaries eventually were disillusioned, but not before they had formed close relations with these refugees, some of whom became valuable assistants and contributed to the growth of the Chinese Christian Church.
The Taiping kingdom had within it, from the Christian point of view, the seeds of a transformation of China, but the end result was largely disastrous for China, and its fall left behind those who had dreamed of a glory that had passed them by. Some, as this article suggests, adjusted to a life devoted to the Christian Church, while others went their own ways. But the missionaries maintained a nostalgic interest in those who had been closely connected with the leaders of the Taiping movement.
A significant event for Sun Yat-sen during his middle school-days in Hong Kong was his baptism by the American missionary, the Revd Charles R. Hager. This event influenced his future life and relationships. Immediately, it provided him with a surrogate family during his several years as a school-boy in Hong Kong. He en-tered an intimate fellowship bound together by a new commitment for, as a very small, new Christian congregation, its fellowship was close and binding. This congregation was the result of the mission-ary concern of overseas Chinese. The connection with overseas Christian communities was later used by Sun Yat-sen in his jour-neys to raise funds and enlist support for his revolutionary cause. His acceptance of Christianity linked him with a distinct group of interconnected families on the China coast and overseas. It was through this group that Sun met his one-time secretary and second wife, Soong Ching-ling. These three different aspects of Sun's baptism will be considered in turn.
The Establishment of the American Board Mission in Hong Kong
In 1873, at the age of 14, Sun Yat-sen left his home village near Macau to join an older brother in Hawaii. There he entered the Iolani School, which was conducted by churchmen. They aroused in Sun a desire to accept the Christian faith publicly. This was vigorously opposed by his older brother, who was supporting him and paying the school fees. To remove the boy from Christian in-fluence, his brother sent him back to his home village in the Hsiang-shan (now Chung-shan) District of Kwangtung.
This move, from the brother's view, was not altogether success-ful. Sun's attraction to Christianity and rejection of traditional Chinese religious practices were reinforced upon his return by a fellow village youth who had recently come back from Shanghai with similar attitudes. The two offended village opinion by a minor mutilation of an image in the local temple.
Out of favour in their home village, Sun Yat-sen and his accom-
plice in the escapade, Lu Hao-tung, found their way to Hong Kong. There they met the Revd Charles R. Hager, who recalls in 'Some Personal Reminiscences' published in the Missionary Herald of 12 April 1912 the result of a meeting with the young Sun: 'Of course, I could not help asking him whether he was a Chris-tian, to which he replied that he believed the doctrine of Christ. "Then why do you not become baptized?" "I am ready to be bap-tized at any time", he replied; and so after some months of waiting he received the ordinance in a Chinese school room where a few Chinese were wont to meet with me every Sunday.'
Sun Yat-sen was baptized either at the close of 1883 or early in 1884. As a professed Christian, Sun entered into his new life with enthusiasm. Hager said that, 'After Sun became a Christian he immediately began to witness for Christ, and such was his earnest-ness that in a short time two of his friends accepted Christianity. This was at a time when few converts were made and when many feared to identify themselves with Christians. But so great was the influence of Sun that he won these men to the truth. It was the same power that he always had of making men accept his opinion'. The two friends were Lu Hao-tung and Tong Phong. Tong had been a friend and fellow-student of Sun's in Hawaii.1
The first name on the register of the Revd Charles Hager's new congregation was Sung Yuk-lam (Sitt#) . This baptism took place in September 1883. Hager describes how he first met Sung in an article in The Pacific (a weekly paper for California Congrega-tionalists), published on 31 October 1883, under the title 'How a Sunday School was Organized in Hong Kong, September 3,1883'.
Over a week since, a Chinese came to me and said he would like to join our Church and be baptized; we have no church. I had little idea what led the young man to change in belief. I sat down with him, commenced to ask him through an interpreter a series of questions which savored a little of theology. I tried to be very plain with him and find out his reasons why he had come to believe in the Lord Jesus. He told me that it was through the study of the Bible and hearing the Gospel preached that he had deter-mined to become a Christian. His brother and sisters were all Christians, and he felt that he could no longer worship idols. I did not tell him that I should baptize him, for I thought I should like to learn a little more about him.
Mr Hager's investigation showed that the young man, with his
elder brother, Sung Chi-yau, was teaching in a government-aided school under the auspices of the American Presbyterian Church. The school-room was in an upper room on a lane near Queen's Road West in Sai Ying Pun. The elder brother was in charge of the school from 1883 to 1894. His nephew, Sung Hok-pang, succeeded him. Hager's American Board mission took over sponsorship of the school from the Presbyterians in 1887.
Hager had been thinking about establishing another Sunday school in addition to the small one held in the mission house. The two teachers brought him the opportunity. Consequently, as Hager relates: 'I told this young man about it, and he promised to ask his brother, and in a few days he came and asked me if I could help him open a Sunday School on the Sunday following at 10:30. I promised gladly.'
As preparation he gave Sung Yuk-lam twenty copies of St. Matthew's Gospel in Chinese for distribution to the children. On Sunday, Hager set out for the school. He took with him litera-ture to distribute at the civil hospital, which was on his route be-tween the mission house on Bridges Street and Sai Ying Pun. When the missionary finally arrived at the school-room, he found there the two brothers, a colporteur of the Bible Society and some forty young scholars.
Hager found himself in a difficult situation as the helper he had been depending upon to assist him did not arrive. Hager was not yet proficient in Cantonese and needed assistance. He was rescued from his dilemma, however, by the providential arrival of Mr Noyes, a Presbyterian missionary who was visiting Hong Kong from his station in Canton. Hager described the situation thus:
There were ten singing books and they could sing a few hymns. We opened with 'Jesus, Lover of my Soul', but I did not recognize it by the tune, much less by the words. Then I asked the principal teacher to pray. All remained standing in a reverent attitude, you could have heard a pin drop. I was perplexed as to what to do next. We sang, while I whispered to go and ask Fung Foo to come as he had promised to be there. But in a few minutes Mr. Noyes ... appeared. Greatly relieved, I asked him to take charge ... He read part of the 19th Chapter of Matthew, where it speaks of little children being brought to Jesus. One boy was asked to read a verse, and then Mr. Noyes would ask them questions and explain it... We then sang, 'There is a happy land, far, far away, where saints in glory stand, bright, bright as day' ... Mr. Noyes then spoke at some length on the Saviour's love for the sa man tra [sic�Xshould read Sai-mun-tsai or children] at the conclusion of which we sang again. An earnest prayer from Mr. Noyes closed the meeting.
Hager then distributed some children's literature and was intro-duced to the Chinese mode of receiving gifts: 'No one thanked me, but after the group was dismissed, each came before my desk, put their hands together and bowed in a reverent manner.' He was much impressed: T thought I wished American children would be as polite to their superiors as these Chinese children today.'
With the Sunday school launched, Hager soon afterwards bap-tized Sung Yuk-lam, his first convert. With the addition of Sun and his two friends after a few months, and a servant woman, along with Chinese helpers from California, a small congregation was organized.
The congregation met at the mission house at No. 2, Bridges Street. Hager described the building as 'a humble building During the week a Chinese boy's school was taught there, while our young friend [Sun] lived in the second story with some other Chinese, and an American Bible Society's colporteur and I lived on the third story'.2
Sung Yuk-lam, the new convert, was placed in charge of the school, which met on the ground floor. He remained there until 1899.3
An event much talked about by Sun Yat-sen and the other residents of 2 Bridges Street was an unpleasant encounter with European prejudice experienced by Sung Yuk-lam and a cook who lived there. A report of it is given in the China Mail of 28 July 1884, in the police news under the title 'Insolent Chinese':
Cho Kwok-in, a cook, No. 2 Bridges Street, charged by use of threatening and abusive language to Charles Bond, a bill collector, while sitting with wife and daughter listening to the Band at Murray Barracks. He sat on a seat on which two Chinese sat. The defendant ... began using disgusting language. The complainant remonstrated. Defendant said in English, 'You no belong mandarin, what for you sit down by me, you god-damned son of ...' The complainant's wife walked away and defendant assumed a fighting attitude. The complainant told him to go away or he would give him in charge. The defendant said he was sitting on the bench when the complainant came up, raised his stick and told him to go away, which he refused to do. Sung Yuk-lam, defendant's friend, said he was sitting down when complainant and two ladies came up. He got up from the seat but the defendant did not.
The defendant, Cho Kwok-in, was fined $3. Apparently, public benches were considered to be for the use of Europeans and were not to be shared with Chinese, even though the latter might have a prior claim to occupancy.
Even before Hager had organized his Sunday schools, he had opened an evening school to teach English. He began with only four or five pupils, but soon there was an average attendance of between thirty and forty. There was some waning of enthusiasm among the students after the initial novelty had worn off. Some found there was too much use of the Bible in the teaching. Many of those who came were students during the day at the Govern-ment Central School. Some of these found the burden of both day-and night-school too onerous and dropped out.
Inasmuch as Yat-sen was living in the same house as Mr Hager, it is likely that he attended these sessions; Hager's description of the class is therefore of interest. He wrote of it in an article entitled 'Three Months on Chinese Soil', which appeared in The Pacific on 15 August 1883:
We usually begin with singing some Moody and Sankey hymns, followed by the English Lord's Prayer recited in concert. I tried to have the scholars kneel at the first, but I find they are much stiller when standing, so we all rise and repeat the prayer with bowed heads. After this is the lesson of reading either in their school books or New Testament... It is my custom to explain the chapter, and at the close to speak a few pointed words upon some particular verse. Then we have a general exercise, in which we read some text of scripture and I explain it and let someone interpret it for those who cannot understand. Most of the advanced can speak English quite well, and interpret it. Some do this perhaps better than some of our Chinese in California. For our closing exercise we usually have singing and then repeat the Lord's Prayer in Chinese.
Indeed, it seems that these evening English classes were almost prayer meetings. It is no wonder that some may have felt they were learning more religion than English. This venture in provid-ing English-language education in the hope that it would promote evangelization was not successful and was abandoned after a year's trial. It was, however, later revived.
Any disappointment over the abandonment of an English night-school was compensated for by the Revd Charles Hager's success in gathering a small worshipping congregation during his first year as a missionary in Hong Kong.
Overseas Chinese Christians and the Hong Kong American Board Mission
An important aspect of the new fellowship in which Sun Yat-sen found himself after his baptism was its close connection with over-seas Chinese Christians. As a boy, Sun Yat-sen had himself spent a number of years in the overseas Chinese community of the Hawaiian islands. His experience there gave him an understanding of the peculiar situation of these Chinese expatriates. When pro-moting his revolutionary cause, he travelled extensively among the various groups of Chinese in other countries. It is not strange that he should associate himself in Hong Kong with a Christian mission that had been established through the efforts of overseas Chinese Christians.
As far as Sun Yat-sen was concerned, the Revd Charles R. Hager was the key figure in this early indirect tie with an American Chinese group.
Hager had been sent to Hong Kong by the Congregational Chinese Mission in San Francisco. His salary was supplied by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, a mis-sionary agency of the Congregational Church in the United States. The Chinese mission in San Francisco was the result of work begun by the American Missionary Association in 1870. The Association was also supported by Congregational churches and had been established to provide education for emancipated slaves after the American Civil War. Though the Association's principal work was in the southern states among blacks, it also sponsored schools for Chinese on the west coast.
As the converts of this work had partaken of missionary zeal, they became imbued with the desire to have their new faith preached to friends and relatives in China. Some of them returned to China and wished to have a community of Christians of like mind where they were living. The California converts naturally turned first to the American Missionary Association for help, but this society had neither the money nor the experience needed to extend its work into foreign lands. However, the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions had been working in China since 1835 and thus was much better suited to meet the request of the California Chinese Christians. Consequently, the American Missionary Association referred the request to its sister agency.
After numerous delays, a decision was made in 1881 to establish a mission in Hong Kong.
Some ten years after a plan for a mission was first conceived, the Revd Charles R. Hager was ordained as a missionary to China in the Bethany Congregational Church, San Francisco, California, on 16 February 1883. The remarks made by a Chinese member of the Congregational mission of the American Missionary Associa-tion illustrate the close links which were to be established between Chinese Christians in the United States and Hager's mission in Hong Kong.
The Chinese spokesman was Mr Jee Gam,4 an assistant in the Congregational mission in San Francisco. In his remarks he ex-pressed the concerns, dreams and hopes of his Chinese colleagues for their motherland:
It was ten years ago when our Chinese brethren first felt the need of a mission in China at or near the districts from which most of our brethren came ... The first three years we often expressed our great desire among ourselves for this mission, but never thought of telling our superintendent, Rev. W.C. Pond. Not a word was said to him until at our usual Wednes-day evening Bible class, about seven years ago, when the subject of for-eign missions was accidentally mentioned. We then told Rev. W.C. Pond what we so much desired. He at once approved it.
He offered some practical advice, hoping to bring their dreams to fulfilment: 'Hong Kong was chosen for the seat of this mission, and Mr. Pond requested that those who were able to write a letter do so, explaining why this mission was so much needed. He ac-cordingly forwarded these letters to the American Missionary Association.'
Fulfilment, however, demanded persistent patience and prayer: Though the Association sympathized with our want, yet how this mission could be established looked very doubtful. The matter was left to stand; but we remembered that James tells us to ask in faith, nothing wavering, and we knew that God was able to supply all our need, so we kept praying.'
An unexpected opportunity allowed Mr Jee Gam to share the dreams and prayers of his fellow-Christians with a larger circle. He recounted the train of events which led to this:
In the first part of October, 1879, I was greatly surprised by the very generous invitation which the American Missionary Association tendered
to me to attend its Annual Meeting at Chicago. I shall always feel thankful for this great opportunity, and under much obligation to the Association for this kind offer, when I could press the needs of our Chinese to our Eastern friends. I started for the East, but thought nothing of this Hong Kong mission until at the end of the Annual Meeting, when I felt moved by the Holy Spirit to make an earnest plea for this Hong Kong mission. I also spoke of this mission at all the meetings I attended while East. After each meeting my hope was made stronger by the kind words of many Christian friends and for the many promises of help. In fact, many of these promises have been made good.
Three years later, word of a definite decision on the matter was received: 'On the evening of 4th of August, 1882 (the same day the Chinese Restriction Bill .went into effect), the good news came through our superintendent that the American Board [of Commis-sioners for Foreign Missions] had consented to establish the Hong Kong Mission.'
Jee Gam expressed the great joy he felt when the decision was made known: 'Oh, how my heart filled to overflowing, went out to God in thanks-giving and in praise! Immediately we called the brethren to tell them the good news. Christ has told us to ask and we shall receive; yet, when this ten years' prayer was answered, it seemed almost too much to believe, and we are here this evening to praise God once more for His love to us and our benighted countrymen in China.'
The speaker explained the source of the missionary zeal of the Chinese converts and the reason for the mission being in Hong Kong:
And now, why we so earnestly desired this mission, and why Hong Kong is chosen rather than any other city? In reply to this question, let me tell you that a true Chinese Christian has the same desire as any other Chris-tian. As soon as he is enlightened by the light of the blessed gospel, he wishes others to have the peace which Jesus alone can give. He looks at the wide field before him, and feels as so many have felt, that 'the harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few'. Naturally his heart goes out to China, his native land, and he thinks of his own dear relations and friends, without Christ and without hope in this world. Do you then won-der why we so earnestly yearn for this mission?
Hong Kong as a base for the mission had several advantages:
Having Hong Kong for headquarters, missionaries and teachers can be sent from there to preach and teach in the villages from which our young men come. Besides this the English language is used more in Hong Kong than in any other part of China, and the Chinese living there, or those visiting that place, could not be reached in a more efficient manner than by opening the same kind of free schools for them that you have opened for us here. They feel that they need to know the English languages. Of course, there are public schools, where both the English and Chinese lan-guage are taught by the British Government, but all have their sessions in the daytime; consequently, the children are the only ones benefitted by these schools. There remains the laboring class unreached. If a free even-ing school is opened, I have no doubt that much good could be done among them.
One of the first things the Revd Charles Hager did after arriving in Hong Kong was to open and support schools. Hong Kong had its advantages as a gateway for Chinese migra-tion:
Moreover, Hong Kong is a great highway to all foreign ports, especially San Francisco. Through Hong Kong nearly all the Chinese in the United States have come and will return. If a general mission could be established at this port much co-operating work could be accomplished between our mission here and that at Hong Kong. Christian Chinese returning home, would receive letters of introduction to the superintendent of the Hong Kong Missions. This superintendent would have pastoral care over them, and be a very great help in time of persecution. Converts would be made firmer in faith, and more earnest in leading others to Christ.
The Chinese Christians in California longed for changes in China. Their hopes were for religious conversion. Their mission in Hong Kong brought into their fellowship the man who was to become the father of a great political change in China. Jee Gam expressed considerable expectations: 'We are not only anxious to have these few districts filled with Christianity. That would be selfish. We are working, and praying, and expecting, with God's help to be an important factor in leavening the Chinese empire. 'China for Christ' is our motto, and this has been our aim for the past ten years, and will ever be so. We will endeavour to help with our prayers, and as far as we possibly can with money.'5
Jee Gam's remarks forecast the close links forged between the Hong Kong mission and Chinese Christians in America. Jee Gam expressed the hopes, the prayers, and the vision of the Chinese Christians for the new mission. Extracts from a letter written by the Revd Charles Hager before he left for Hong Kong reflect his thoughts regarding the task he was undertaking: 'My dear Chris-tian Chinese Brethren: I take the opportunity to communicate to you a few of the many things that are weighing upon my heart... I accepted the responsible position of going as your representative from this land, with a feeling a heavy burden was resting upon me. I do not know as I shall be equal to this task. I do not know as I shall meet your expectations. Of this I am assured, that without your prayers and full co-operation and the blessing of God, I shall utterly fail.'
He reminded his friends that, along with their enthusiasm at the realization of their dreams for a mission in China, continuing patience was needed:
Your motto 'China for Christ' is still unfulfilled and you need now, as never before, to pray and labor for this mission. If you have waited ten years until God heard your prayers for this new mission, then it becomes you once more to pray for ten years that God will send the gospel to the millions of your own number with a converting power ... Let me beseech you not to think that the work is already done. Let not the ardor of your love for your countrymen be cooled, but rather intensified. The work, more than ever before, demands our best prayers, our best labors, and our best gifts. We have just commenced to labor. We have only just en-tered the battle, the struggle is still to follow. God grant that we may meet it like brave men, with loving hearts, faithful endeavors, and generous gifts. Make and observe these things.6
His thoughts expressed a sober realism. He entered into his new work with devotion and enthusiasm. Within a year of his arrival in Hong Kong, he had gathered a small group of some half dozen or more into a small congregation. Among them was the youthful Sun Yat-sen.
The Christian Elite of the China Coast
Sun Yat-sen's baptism brought him into a distinct circle of China coast Christians. This group was composed principally of those who had received an English-language education. It was an elite circle of the Chinese Protestant Church. As the years passed, Dr Sun found supporters for his revolutionary cause within the group.
The seeds out of which the elite China coast Christian commun-ity grew were the schools established during the opening years of the Protestant mission to the Chinese. Through the years, a group of educated men emerged who had accepted or been influenced by Christianity. They lived and worked in the China coast cities. Not all the students who entered the English-language missionary
schools became Christian. Others, who accepted Christianity when young, in maturity allowed their connection with the Church to become tenuous. This was true of Sun Yat-sen. His marriage to Soong Ching-ling, while he was still legally married to his first wife, was not in conformity with Christian moral standards and was not approved in strict circles of the Church.
The first generation of missionary-school students were of hum-ble origins, but owing to their facility in English and knowledge of Western ways, they were often able to accumulate wealth and climb to positions of leadership. They sought marriage partners for their sons and daughters among other Christian families. Thus, a complex of interlocking family relationships was formed.7
English-language education and the profession of Christianity set the group apart. Its members did not fit into the traditional Chinese social structure. Their missionary mentors did not en-courage them to follow traditional Chinese practices or thought systems. Those who accepted the missionaries' view tended to become a separate and distinct group within Chinese society. Because they had had a Western type of education and because of the political views of their teachers, the students of missionary schools were sympathetic to a constitutional form of government. They were critical of the corruption within the Government of China and of its conservative withdrawal at increasing pressure from the West.8
The special situation of young men who had been educated in America is a topic in Hager's article 'Three Months on Chinese Soil':
I think I have met some seven or eight of the returned students [of the Chinese Educational Mission] who were recalled some two years ago. Intel-lectually every one of these students is persuaded of the truth of Chris-tianity, but I am afraid there is lacking that yielding of the heart which is the essential thing ... Everyone of these students is intensely American in their feelings, illustrating over and over again the truth that as a child is educated into manhood, so will he be, think and feel afterwards. They would welcome anything to their country that would revolutionize the whole system of education, thought and government. Quite frequently I press upon them the claims of the Gospel ministry, but their eyes are not turned in that direction. I think that some feel there is an impassable gulf between them and their countrymen, nothing but self-denial, persecution, and perhaps even death to them. It means something to be a Christian here�Xnot less than the whole heart consecrated to God. No weak and
vacillating Christian does remain firm here. It means the sacrifice of home, friends and relatives.
This was the situation and atmosphere of the times, as under-stood by the Revd Charles Hager, in which Sun Yat-sen found himself upon his baptism. It produced a small interconnected group on the China coast. Because of the connection of Dr Sun's second wife with the Wan family of Hong Kong, this is of special interest and illustrates the complexity of ties that were created.
Hager spent his first Sunday in Hong Kong with this family. It was not fortuitous that he should have done so. Five years pre-viously, Wan Ching-kai had been in correspondence with the Chinese in California in regard to their establishing a mission in Hong Kong. His enthusiasm for evangelism is mentioned in a re-port published by the Revd W.C. Pond, of the California Chinese mission:
Wan Ching Kai... has suggested that, in that English city of Hong Kong, mission work among the Chinese could be conducted most successfully, upon the very plan which we use here [in California]; and is very desirous himself to send native preachers into the neglected interior districts, asking whether our Chinese brethren here could not help him to do so ... The emphatic testimony which these bear to his good judgment and general efficiency, as well as his Christian character, makes both the work he has done and the work he wants to do, confirm my confidence in the suggestion I have made.9
Fung Foo,10 a member of the California mission who visited Hong Kong in 1878, reported that Wan Tsing-kai, 'the most active deacon of the London Missionary Society congregation in Hong Kong', told him that the Chinese of Hong Kong felt that there was a great need for them to learn the English language. He urged Fung to remain in Hong Kong and establish a night-school to teach English similar to those successfully conducted in California.
Immediately after Hager's arrival in Hong Kong, he wrote an account for The Pacific of his first Sunday in Hong Kong. He re-lated how he visited the Wan family: 'After breakfast I went to the house of Mr. Wang [sic] Ching Kai and found Lee Sam11 there. The family were all gathered together for morning worship, and though the place was far from being anything like our own, it was quite comfortable and pleasant. The family consisted of the father and his two sons, a nephew, and the wife of the eldest son. Two other sons belong to the family, but they were not present.'
The members of the family mentioned can be identified from the register of the London Missionary Society congregation and other sources. The father, Wan Kam-tseung (ffl&tt), also known as Wan Tsing-kai (ffifif 8S) (1813-1915), had come to Hong Kong in 1854 from the San Ning (Toi Shan) District of Kwangtung. By trade, he was a carpenter. Over the years he acquired property, mostly shops in the Chinese business section. He was baptized in Hong Kong on 3 April 1864. In 1900, he was naturalized as a British subject. Hager did not mention his wife, Wan Yan-shi (SHIRK), but she was living at the time of Hager's visit. Perhaps she was in the country. According to the church records there were six sons, and a nephew's name was also mentioned.
Hager gave some details about the elder son: 'The married son is one of the returned Chinese American students who have en-gaged in teaching in the Government school,12 but he leaves soon for Shanghai, to engage in mechanics there. His wife is a pupil of Miss Noyer [sic]13 from Canton and appears to be a very pleasant lady, though she cannot talk a word of English. Her husband speaks English quite distinctly.'
Kwan Yuet-ping (MB2?-), the wife of this elder son, Ping-chung, the returned student from America, was a daughter of Kwan Yan-cheung. Her brother was a fellow-student and friend of Sun Yat-sen in medical school. The gravestone of Mrs Wan, nee Kwan, in the Colonial Cemetery, Happy Valley, Hong Kong, de-scribes her as 'an exemplary Christian, eleven years the president of the Women's Christian Temperance Union, translator of Christian Temperance Literature'. In view of her work as a trans-lator, Hager's statement that 'she cannot talk a word of English' may be questioned. She may well have been shy or remained quietly in the background during his visit as was proper for young Chinese ladies in mixed company. Her mother at one time had conducted a school where she taught Chinese girls English. It would have been strange if her own daughter had not learned the language.
It was through Wan Ping-chung, the returned student and hus-band of Kwan Yuet-ping, that Sun Yat-sen was connected to the Soong family, from which his second wife came. But before discuss-ing this connection, let us continue Hager's description of his first Sunday in Hong Kong: 'I was asked to unite in prayer with the family and after we had listened to an exposition of 2 Timothy
2:1(Now therefore, my son, take strength from the grace of God
which is ours in Christ Jesus), then we sang 'Gates Ajar' in Chinese as well as we could, after which we were led in prayer by Lee Sam.'
In the afternoon, Hager also attended the Chinese service at Union Church. He remarked, 'I was pleasantly surprised to see the house well-filled, and most of them participating in the sacrament. It seemed such a pleasant contrast to the few who had gathered in the morning. Rev. E.C. Edge conducted the exercise, while his wife led the singing, beating time with her fan, in a vigorous manner.'
Following the Chinese service there was a Sunday school, though Hager thought 'It hardly deserves the name', as there were only thirty or forty present, mostly soldiers and sailors. There was only one Chinese class. The poor state of the school gave the new missionary ideas: 'I pondered how I might open a Sunday school especially for Chinese.'
In the evening he attended a service of the Hong Kong Christian Association at the Temperance Hall, where 'the preaching was not metaphysical, but pure gospel'. The preacher was the Revd D.D. Jones, an independent, who later worked for a time with Hager.
Hager mentioned that the eldest son of the Wan family was a returned student from America. Wan Ping-chung had gone to America in 1873 at the age of 12, as a member of the second group of students sent by the Chinese Government to study in the United States under the auspices of the Chinese Educational Mission. It was while he was a student in America that he met the father of Soong Ching-ling.
Emily Hahn, in a book on the Soong sisters, writes about the meeting of two of the students of the Chinese Educational Mission with Charlie Soong. Charlie, or perhaps it would be better to call him Soong Yau-ju (5f;J�� #P), as he used the name Charlie only after he left Boston, had been adopted by a childless brother of his mother. His surname was thus changed from Han to Soong. The uncle operated a silk and tea store in Boston, assisted by his young nephew, who was learning the business.
The story of the meeting as told by Emily Hahn is interesting, but the reader is not sure on what it has been based: a docu-mentary source, an oral tradition, or the imagination of the au-thor. Miss Hahn links the meeting of the students with the shop-boy to the latter's running away from Boston and striking out on his own. She describes the stirring-up of the boy in this fashion: 'The two young students talked to the wistful little boy behind the counter, telling him of their life at school and of the camp where they were sent each summer�X They visited the shop frequently and kept criticizing young Soon ... that is, how he spelled his name in those days for remaining behind the counter and being satisfied with night school, in America, where a first-class educa-tion was so easy to obtain ... Yan-ju listened, his mouth watered for a similar chance.'14
When he asked his uncle for permission to attend school full-time, he was turned down. Taking the matter into his own hands, he ran away. He went to sea15 and ended up at Wilmington, South Carolina. Here he found interested patrons and was sent to Methodist Trinity College in South Carolina, but after two years he transferred to Vanderbilt University in Tennessee to study theology. After his return to China, he was for a time a Methodist preacher in Shanghai.
The two students who stirred up the shop-boy in the tea and silk store in Boston were Wan Ping-chung, son of a deacon in a Hong Kong congregation, and Niu Shang-chou, from Shanghai, who was a member of the first group of students in the Chinese Educational Mission.
The boys from the Chinese Educational Mission were recalled to China in 1882. Charlie Soong returned in 1886. In the course of time, each married a daughter of the Ni family of Yuyao, Che-kiang. The family was Protestant although earlier generations, on the female side of the family, had been Roman Catholic. Charlie, shortly after his return, married Ni Kwei-tseng. Niu Shang-chou married Ni Kuei-chin. Wan Ping-chung married Kwan Yuet-ping in Hong Kong. After her death, he married Ni Sieu-tsang, the third of the sisters.
Thus it was that three adolescents in Boston, two of them students, one a clerk in a shop, married three sisters. One of the sisters was the mother of the second wife of Dr Sun Yat-sen. It was in this way that interlocking relationships were forged between China coast Christian families.
The Penang-born medical doctor, Wu Lien-teh, in his auto-biography, Plague Fighter, speaks of Wan Ping-chung and his connections with the Soong family:
About the year 1901, I meet Mr. Wen Ping-chung, most jolly of all the early returned students from America, then serving as English Secretary
to the Viceroy's Yamen. Wen had accompanied the two Imperial Com-missioners Tuan Fang and Tai Hung-chi during their tour around the world to study the constitutions of advanced countries, and I had met him in Penang. He was a Christian of the American Methodist Church and had married a Christian lady, whose sister was the wife of Pastor Soong, father
�Eof the three noted Soong sisters ... At my friend Wen's house I first met Soong Ching-ling, a charming and vivacious girl, just returned from her college training in America, and soon to find an occupation as private secretary to Dr. Sun and some years afterwards became the great man's wife.16
Many years before this marriage, Sun Yat-sen, while a middle-school student in Hong Kong, had met Wan Ping-chung through the Revd Charles R. Hager. His baptism made him a part of a special group of China coast Christians.

6 The Emergence of a Chinese Elite in Hong Kong
THE opening of the Tung Wah Hospital in 18721 marks the termi-nal date for this study of the emergence of a Chinese elite in Hong Kong. We are concerned, therefore, with the first thirty years of the colony's history, from 1841 to 1872.
The first decade was characterized by economic and social prob-lems partially created by a shifting and generally irresponsible population. During this period there were, however, a small num-ber of settlers who were establishing themselves and their families with the purpose of making Hong Kong their permanent home, of acquiring capital, and of investing in real estate. As the colony entered the 1850s, this group increasingly assumed a position of leadership. It was composed of a few successful contractors and builders, several government servants, compradores of foreign firms, and Chinese Christians attached to missionary groups.
The second decade was marked by an influx of population and capital caused by disturbed conditions in southern China created by the Taiping rebellion. This influx turned into an exodus when hostilities began between the British and the Chinese in 1857. But war brought more compradores to Hong Kong as foreign firms moved down from Canton.
In the third decade there was a revival of trade, and a growing merchant class provided its share of elite. By the end of the 1860s, a clearly defined elite group had established itself, providing leader-ship for the Chinese community.
The purpose of this chapter is to document the conditions from which an identifiable elite group arose in Hong Kong and to illus-trate this emergence with biographies of some of its members.
Sources for the Study
The most important sources used to determine the Chinese elite for the period covered by this study are the names given on memo-rials, petitions, and subscription lists. The repetition of a name on subsequent lists, the amount of the contributions, and the position of the name on the document all serve to suggest the relative status of an individual. Proprietorship of land also suggests potential elite status.
(a)
The earliest such document is a petition from landowners dated 19 February 1848, in which they asked for the remission of what they considered excessive Crown rent charges. There are twenty-seven signatures of the principal Chinese landowners.2

(b)
In September 1852, the China Mail published the subscrip-tion list for the Chinese hospital proposal by Dr Hirschberg of the London Missionary Society. This also contains twenty-seven names. Of these, ten were compradores, seven shopkeepers, three merchants, three contractors, and one 'gentleman'. Only three names from the 1848 list appear on this list: Loo Aqui, gentleman, Tam Achoy, building contractor, and Chow Aqui, merchant.

(c)
On 4 November 1856, a memorial concerning a recent piece of legislation was presented to the Government. It contained both European and Chinese names. Nineteen Chinese signed.3

(d)
In 1859, the Government Gazette published a 'list of Chinese Voluntary Contributions to a Fund for purchasing books, etc., for the Government Schools in the Colony'. Most of the con-tributions were made in the name of business firms, but all the largest amounts were contributed by individuals. The two largest contributors were both contractors: Tang Luk gave $60 and Tam Tso (Achoy) gave $50. Then there are thirteen contributions of $10 each. Of these, six were from compradores and an equal num-ber from merchants. The remaining contributor in this particular group was a government servant, the overseer of the coolie gangs of the Surveyor-General's Department.

(e)
In April 1861, the Friend of China published a list entitled 'A Public Declaration of the Shop Keepers of Hong Kong, stating that when Mr. Caldwell managed the Proprietorship of the Chinese here, the people of Hong Kong were at rest, but he resigned his office. They now present their petition to the Governor asking him to retain Mr. Caldwell'. It has sixteen names of firms as the chief petitioners. Beside seven of them are given the names of the head of the firm. Five of these can be found on the 1859 list.


(f)
In January 1868, the Hong Kong Daily Press published forty-two names of individuals and firms who had submitted a petition to the House of Commons to protest against the imposi-tion of a military contribution upon Hong Kong.

(g)
In 1872, the Chinese Chronicle and Directory gives the names of the eleven members of the Kai Fong or 'Joss House' Committee, as well as the thirteen members of the Tung Wah Hos-pital Committee. This was the organizing committee of 1869, which remained in office until the hospital was formally opened in 1872, when a new committee was elected. The Directory also lists a General Committee for the Hospital. This too had thirteen mem-bers.

(h)
On 1 April 1871, a memorial presented to Henry Charles Caldwell upon his departure from the colony by the Chinese com-munity, which was published in the Chinese section of the China Mail and signed by thirty-two of the most prominent Chinese, serves as a check against the Tung Wah and Kai Fong directors.

(i)
In May 1872, the China Mail listed the names of thirty Chinese who called upon the Governor on behalf of the Chinese community. This delegation was composed of seven compradores, fourteen merchants, two journalists, one contractor, and two gov-ernment servants.

(j)
The relationship between land ownership and elite status can be judged by a list of the twenty highest ratepayers in 1876 and 1881, published in the Government Gazette. The list includes both Europeans and Chinese. In 1876, European ownership outranked Chinese by twelve to eight; but in 1881, ownership had changed so that there were seventeen Chinese among the twenty highest rate-payers. In the 1881 list, seven of the top twenty were from compra-dore families, six were merchants, one was a contractor, and the list also included the widow of the Revd Ho Fuk-tong, ordained minister of the London Missionary Society's Chinese congrega-tion.


After the opening of the Tung Wah Hospital in 1872, the names of the directors of the hospital published in the Development of the Tung Wah Hospital 1870-1960 are an excellent criterion for deter-mining elite status. After 1872 there is also an ever-increasing number of subscriptions, memorials, committees, delegations, and so on, which serve as counterchecks to the Tung Wah directorships.
For a study of an elite based on such lists, it is necessary to give identity to the names by a biographical sketch. These sketches in-dicate the manner by which the individual arrived at elite status.
Reconstructing the biographies of these early residents of Hong Kong is not an easy task. Only documentary sources have been used for the reconstruction. No information has been sought from present-day descendants of these individuals. I have relied upon such material as newspapers, Land Registry Office records, the police and lighting rates for 1860, 1868, and 1872, the Government Gazette and Blue Books, the published Calendar of Probates and Administrations, the Colonial Office Records in the Public Record Office, London, and the archives of several missionary societies. The Chinese practice of using various aliases complicates iden-tification. In one instance, for example, an individual used at var-ious times and in various relationships ten different aliases. The varying Romanization for Chinese names constitutes another problem for the researcher who uses Western sources. The con-temporary English, Portuguese, Germans, and French each had a different system for Romanizing Chinese characters. For instance, in one place there is a reference to Tso Aon's brother, Chow Yik-cheong. The Chinese character for the surname is If; the English in Hong Kong spelled it Tso, while the Portuguese in Macau used Chow. Thus, in Hong Kong records, a name is likely to appear spelled in one way and in Macau in another. For the period covered in this study, there was no officially approved system of Romaniza-tion in Hong Kong. Romanization was also influenced by the dialect variations in the Chinese language itself: the spelling of a name might vary according to the place of origin of the individual, whether Hakka, Chiu Chow, Fukienese, or Cantonese. The sources often have a number of variations in the Romanized form of a name. I have used the form that occurs most commonly. The Chi-nese characters have been given wherever they are available, but they are not given on all source documents or other records.
Government and the Elite
In China, there was traditionally a close connection between the Government and the elite group. With the introduction of the im-perial examination system, the elite or gentry were recruited from the ranks of the scholars. Success in the examinations, appoint-ment to government office, and the accumulation of capital and economic power were usually concomitant.4
Obviously, this relationship could not be duplicated in Hong Kong. In the years following the establishment of the colony, there
was a radical gap between the Chinese population and the colonial Government. Their points of contact were few. As long as the Chinese did not create trouble, the Government was content to let the Chinese community manage its own affairs, the hope being, of course, that the management would be in the hands of responsible leaders. However, social and economic conditions within the com-munity, both before and after the British seizure of the island, mitigated against control being exercised by responsible indi-viduals.
Official government structures at the local level were at a mini-mum before the arrival of the British. Hong Kong was one of many 'barren rocks' on the edge of San On (later called Po On) District, one of the least important in the Kwang Chau Prefec-ture. Originally, San On had been a part of the Tung Kwun Dis-trict, but it had been separated from it in 1573. The separation left it small and insignificant. The limited exercise of government authority and its geographical location made it a base for pirates. One of the stories about the origin of the name of the Tai Ping Shan District on Hong Kong Island is that a pirate named Cheung Po-chai used it as his headquarters. He finally went over to the authorities and left the island. In relief, the local population named the mountainside on which he had dwelt 'Great Peace Mountain'.5 Since it was easy to slip away by boat if government officials came to check on inhabitants, the islands on the edge of San On District were popular haunts for outlaws and the criminal element.
At the time of the establishment of the British claim to the island, the Canton Register, for 23 February 1841, predicted that under British jurisdiction the island would become even more popular with these classes: 'Hongkong will be the resort and rende-vous of all the Chinese smugglers. Opium smoking shops and gambling-houses will soon spread; to those haunts will flock all the discontented and bad spirits of the empire.' Future developments substantiated this forecast.
Factors which Impeded the Emergence of Responsible Leaders in the Chinese Community
Samuel Fearon, the Census and Registration Officer, in a report dated 24 June 1845, described the origin of the first settlers of Hong Kong:
The arrival of the British fleet in the harbour speedily attracted a consider-able boat population, and the profits accruing from the supply of provi-sions and necessaries at once raised many from poverty and infamy to considerable wealth. The shelter and protection afforded by the presence of the fleet soon made our shores the resort of outlaws, opium smugglers, and indeed, of all persons who had rendered themselves obnoxious to the Chinese laws, and had the means of escaping hither. In course of time the demands for labour, for the public and other works drew some thousands to the island, the majority of whom were Hakkas or gypsies; people whose habits, character and language mark them as a distinct race. Careless of the ties of home and of those moral obligations, the observance of which is deemed absolutely necessary to the preservation of the national integrity; uneasy under the restraint of law and unscrupulous of the means by which they live, they abandon without hesitation their hearths and household gods, their birthright and their father's tombs, to wander, unrespected, whither gain may call them. The unsettled state of the Colony, and the vast amount of crime during its infancy afford abundant proof of the de-moralizing effects of their presence ... [More recently] Hong Kong has been invested by numbers of the Triad Society, the members of which under shelter of a political maxim 'outturn the Tsing ... and restore the Ming* perpetuate the grossest enormities. I have satisfied myself that most of the burglaries have been planned and attempted by members of this dangerous association.6
Fearon mentions in his report a person named Aqui as the most influential and wealthy of the native residents. He had rapidly risen from the lowly status of a bum-boatman. William Tarrant, a historian of Hong Kong who was well acquainted with the early days, writing in 1861, commented that
there were some curiousfish among the earlier native settlers�Xthe leader of them is still living in Victoria, Loo Aqui, alias See Mun King. If all reports be true, Aqui was monarch of all he surveyed on the water about Hong Kong prior to our taking possession�Xthat is to say, he was the Sea King who took toll from all that passed his squadron. This is of course rumour only; and we but mention it to say that the presence of Aqui on the island had much to do in keeping people of better character from settling, or even visiting the place.7
George Smith, the future Bishop of Victoria, visited Hong Kong in 1844 and gave an equally critical description of Aqui's activities:
He possesses about fifty houses in the bazaar, and lives on the rent, in a style much above the generality of the Chinese settlers, who are commonly composed of the refuse of the neighbouring mainland. During the war, Aqui acted as purveyor of provisions to the British armament and ac-quired some wealth. After the peace he was at first afraid to return to the mainland, lest he should be seized as a traitor by the Mandarins. In the end he settled at Hong Kong, where he is said to encourage disreputable characters by the loan of money, and in various ways to reap the proceeds of profligacy and crime.8
Loo Aqui (455* ) also appears in the records as Lo Aking (*5S*) or Sze Mun-king ( [�G]#�G* ) [Lo] (King, the Gentle-man). At the time of the Sino-British war, he seems to have played both sides of the game. The Chinese Government lured him back to Canton by offering him an official degree of the sixth rank.9 He accepted but did not stay long with the Chinese, and as he was soon back in Hong Kong enjoyed the rewards of his services as provisioner for the British forces. He seems to have had support-ers in Hong Kong government circles for he secured the grant of a large and valuable section of land behind the marine lots of the Lower Bazaar. This was the area between Queen's Road and Jervois Street extending from the vicinity of the junction westward to Cleverly Street. He and his family also acquired a number of marine lots by grant or purchase. Of the twenty-seven who signed the petition of landowners in 1848, about one-fifth were members of the Loo clan.10 Soon after the settlement of Hong Kong, Loo Aqui was operating a gambling establishment and brothels. In 1845, he built a theatre. For a time he held the opium monopoly, and when the residents of the Middle Bazaar were removed to the Tai Ping Shan area in 1844, he petitioned the Government for the privilege of operating a market for the inhabitants, agreeing to build a substantial markethouse at a cost of $2,500 and to pay a monthly rental to the Government of $200 for a period of five years. Loo Aqui and Tam Achoy were recognized as the leaders of the Chinese community, for according to a Chinese account enti-tled Information as to the period of the formations of Districts in Hongkong and the alteration of the Character Wan�Xa bay�Xto Wan�Xa circuit', in 1847 they built the Man-Mo Temple on Holly-wood Road and here 'they judged the people in public assembly' until 1851, when the shopkeepers of the Lower Bazaar 'repaired to Man-Mo Temple, elected a Committee, and therein decided all cases of any public interest.'11
As well as his income from various business ventures, Aqui had a steady income from his properties. In 1850, he was collecting rent on over a hundred shops and houses. But, in 1855, he was declared bankrupt. He had stood security for the administration of the estate of the Chinese merchant, Chinam; the administrator had misused the property of the estate, and Loo Aqui had to pay up, which threw him into insolvency. However, anticipating this, he had previously transferred most of his property to his relatives. After his bankruptcy, he no longer appears as a public figure, although two near relatives, perhaps his sons, Loo Shing and Loo Chew (or, as he is sometimes called, 'Young Qui') are on several of the later lists used to determine elite status. One of Loo Chew's sons was compradore for David Sassoon, Sons and Company in the 1870s; another son, Loo Kum-chun, was Secretary to the Tung Wah Hospital in 1872.
The family of Loo Aqui was from Whampoa and they were probably Tanka or boat people. The Revd Charles Gutzlaff, Chinese Secretary to the Superintendent of Trade, reports that 'the most numerous class who have, since our arrival, fixed them-selves on the island, are from Whampoa; many of them are of the worst characters, and ready to commit any atrocity'.12 They had defied the mandarins' edicts prohibiting Chinese citizens from sup-plying provisions or other services to the British forces. However, it is not surprising that they seized the opportunity to make a quick profit by collaborating with the enemy. They were a secondary caste within the Chinese social structure and were deprived of cer-tain rights. As boat people, they had had a long association with foreign shipping. In recognition of their valuable services to the British, they, along with others, were allotted land in the new town. The Tanka, on leaving their boats for land, soon put aside their distinctiveness and merged with the general population, though they long maintained control of trade in cattle, fish, and prostitutes.13
Hong Kong government authorities were much concerned in the first ten years of the colony's existence about the type of Chinese who came to the island. Conditions were not conducive to attracting wealthy Chinese of respectable background, who could strengthen Hong Kong's economy by promoting local and South-east Asian trade in Chinese products. There had been some opti-mists who believed that the Chinese would welcome the opportunity to live and trade under an 'enlightened, benevolent government', but they had underestimated traditional Chinese xenophobia and inbred loyalty to China as the motherland.
Descriptions of the type of Chinese settler are found in numer-ous reports that government officials submitted to London. In 1844, the Colonial Treasurer wrote:
It is literally true that after three years and a half s uninterrupted settle-ment there is not one respectable Chinese inhabitant on the island ... The policy of the mandarins on the adjacent coast being to prevent all respect-able Chinese from settling at Hong Kong; and in consequence of the hold they possess on their families and relatives this can be done most effectually. At the same time, I believe that they encourage and promote the de-portation of every thief, pirate and idle or worthless vagabond from the mainland to Hongkong ... No Chinese of humbler class will ever bring their wives and children to the colony. The shopkeepers do not remain more than a few months on the island, when another set take their place; there is, in fact, a continual shifting of a Bedouin sort of population, whose migratory, predatory, gambling, and dissolute habits utterly unfit them for continuous industry, and render them not only useless, but highly injurious subjects, in the attempt to form a colony.14
In establishing British government at Hong Kong, it was hoped that Hong Kong could lure away from Macau and Canton a great part of the junk trade and thus make Hong Kong a centre of trade for the whole coast of Kwangtung Province. Though a small be-ginning was made, this trade soon languished. Remarking on the absence of a substantial local trade with Canton, Gutzlaff stated that this was because
there are no Chinese large firms at Victoria to receive goods in charge, and sell them as soon as there is a demand. Attempts to found such estab-lishments have also been made, but have not succeeded from want of encouragement or on account of considerable individual loss. At the pre-sent moment (April, 1845) there remains unfortunately not one single large merchant from Canton in the settlement who is able to promote by his capital and influence such a desirable state. The whole business is therefore in the hands of shopkeepers, compradors and pedlars of whom there are many, though their transactions when considered as a whole are but trifling.15
In his remarks on native trade, Gutzlaff states that an attempt had been made by a Cantonese capitalist to establish himself in Hong Kong. He is referring to Chinam (ff Bf), alias Chan Akuen (E�G35J��), who with three partners operated under the firm name of Tun Wo (IfcfP). The Colonial Treasurer, R.M. Martin, also refers to him in his report: 'One man of reputed wealth named Chinam, who had been engaged in the opium trade, came to Hong Kong, built a good house, and freighted a ship. He soon returned
to Canton, and died there of a fever and cold contracted in Hong Kong. It was understood, however, that had he lived he would have been prohibited from returning to Hong Kong.'16
In June 1843, Chinam bought Marine Lot 54 from Richard Oswald, paying $8,000. At the time it had on it a Singapore-frame house17 with brick enlargements. On the lot, Chinam proceeded to build a large hong in the Chinese style, but before the building was completed, he died in July 1844. With his death, the firm closed down its operations in Hong Kong and much of the hong stood unoccupied for a number of years. One of Chinam's partners, Chan Chun-poo, was appointed his administrator, but owing to irregularities in his handling of the estate he was imprisoned in 1854 and remained in prison for two years where he petitioned the Government for his release on the grounds of his advanced age. The property of the firm of Chinam was sold in 1854 to one Ow Yeung-sun, a trader from the district of San Wui in Kwang-tung Province.
Another Canton firm that established itself in Hong Kong in the early days was Akow and Company . It was not in the same class as Chinam's Tun Wo firm, but its position was above that of the shop-keepers and tradesmen concentrated in the Bazaar areas. The company was granted Inland Lot 22 at the corner of Queen's Road and Pottinger Street in the European section. The firm consisted of five partners, of whom one, Cheung Kam-cheong (SBIft^), was resident in Hong Kong. He began to speculate in real estate and bought several lots at government land auctions. His land invest-ments were not successful and some of his property was sold at the Sheriff's sale in 1847. Akow and Company sold its Queen's Road property in 1850, though Kam-cheong remained in Hong Kong. In 1852, he contributed $5 to Dr Hirschberg's hospital. His last re-corded activity in Hong Kong is the sale of two lots in 1855. At this time, Akow and Company was operating a hotel for foreigners in Canton.
After the death of Chinam, the Government still had hopes of attracting wealthy merchants. A group of Fukienese made en-quiries regarding conditions for settlement. For several genera-tions, a number of these merchants had operated large hongs in Macau, and the Hong Kong Government would therefore have welcomed applications from Fukien merchants for land grants. In the light of the ancient rivalry between Cantonese and Fukienese, it was felt that the allocation of land to this group needed to


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1 Buildings of the Basel Missionary Society station at Sai Ying Pun, Hong Kong, viewed from the west. The building with the belfry is the chapel built in 1867; the upper storey contained a large and small classroom. The building in the middle is the mission house (Evangelische Heidenbote, June 1870)
2 The Lower Bazaar Chapel of the London Missionary Society on Jervois Street,
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3 The Union Church built in 1844 on Hollywood Road. The
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Union Church (Legge Collection, Archives of the London
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6 The chapel and mission house of the Basel Missionary Society station at Sai Ying Pun. The photograph was taken from the corner of Third and Western Streets. The 1867 chapel remains, but the mission house has been rebuilt since the drawing of about 1870 shown in Plate 1 (from a booklet published to mark the one-hundredth anniversary of Kau Yan Church in 1967)
7 Buildings of the Basel Missionary Society station at Sai Ying Pun on the north side of High Street (from a booklet published to mark the one-hundredth anniversary of Kau Yan Church in 1967)
8 St. Paul's College, built as a wing of the Bishop's residence, Lower Albert Road (from a booklet published to mark the one-hundred-and-twentieth anniversary of St. Paul's College in 1971)
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9 Officers of the Morrison Education Society from a circular to the friends and patrons of the Society, dated Macau, 20 December 1843 (Sword Family Papers, Manuscript Division, Pennsylvania Historical Society, Philadelphia)
10 To Tsai Church, Hollywood Road. The congregation began under the auspices of the London Missionary Society but became fully independent in 1888 (from a booklet published 11 Wong Yuk-cho, pastor of To Tsai Church (Legge Collection, to mark the fiftieth anniversary of Hop Yat Church in 1976) Archives of the London Missionary Society, London) 13 Ho Alloy, otherwise known as Ho Shan-chee, a pupil of the Anglo-Chinese College in Hong Kong. He was later on
12 Dr Wong Fun, educated at the Morrison Education Society the ambassadorial staff of Chan Lai-tau in Washington and School. He graduated in medicine from the University of promoted the organization of the Canton and Hong Kong Edinburgh (Legge Collection, Archives of the London Mis-Telegraph Company (Legge Collection, Archives of the
sionary Society, London) London Missionary Society, London)
14 Liang Afah, ordained as an evangelist by the Revd R. 15 Ho Fuk-tong (1818-71), a student at the Anglo-Chinese Col-Morrison in 1827 (Lam Chi-kan (ed.), Collection to Mark the lege, Malacca, ordained as pastor for the Chinese congre-One-Hundred-and-Seventieth Anniversary of the Coming of gation of the London Missionary Society in Hong Kong in the Protestant Church to China (Taipei, 1977)) 1846 (Lam Chi-kan (1977))
16 The Revd Charles Gutzlaff (1803-51) dressed as a Chinese sailor (Lam Chi-kan (1977)) 17 Sun Yat-sen aged 18 (Lam Chi-kan (1977))
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18 The first page of a record book of the China Congregational Church, Hong Kong, giving baptisms by the Revd C. Hager. No. 2 is Sun Yat-sen, and Nos. 4 and 5 are his friends Lu Hao-tung, given here as Luk Chung-kwei, and Tong Phong (Lam Chi-kan (1977))
19 Wu Ting-fang, Chinese Ambassador to the United States, while on a visit to New Orleans (from a newspaper clipping (undated and the name of the news-paper not included) in the Archives of the Chinese Presbyterian Church, New Orleans)
20 Dr Morrison and his assistants translating the Bible into Chinese, from a paint-ing by George Chinnery (W.J. Townsend, Robert Morrison, Pioneer of Mis-sions to China (London, Pickering and Inglis, no date but circa 1860s))
21 The Revd James Legge and his students, Le Kin-lun, Sung Fuh-keen and Woo Wan-sew, otherwise known as Ng Mun-sow, in the Theological Seminary, Hong Kong (H.E. Legge, James Legge, Missionary and Scholar (London, The Reli-gious Tract Society, 1905), p. 52)
22 Tablet presented by the Chinese community in Hong Kong to Dr James Legge (H.E. Legge (1905), p. 203)
23 Miss Harriet Noyes, founder and principal for over fifty years of the True Light School for Girls at Canton. Her school produced doctors, nurses, teachers, and Christian home-makers (Kowloon True Light Middle School 1872-1970 (Hong Kong, 1970))
24 Medical students from the True Light School for Girls at Canton (Harriet N. Noyes, A Light in the Land ofSinim, p. 88)
be handled with care. The Governor explained in his report to England that
These people constitute a very peculiar race, being far more commercial, migratory, and maritime in their habits than any other natives of China. Their spoken language is altogether unintelligible to the people of Can-ton, between whom and themselves a species of irreconcilable feud has existed from time immemorial. Hence they cannot inhabit the same neigh-bourhood without quarrels, and occassionally [sic] bloody conflicts. If land is put up by auction the Fokien (or Chinchew men) would in com-petition with the Cantonese either be excluded altogether, or mingled with the Cantonese be to the prejudice of general peace and order. It is important to secure the settlement of this class of people (in the present instance men of substance). The Council agreed with me to grant them a special location ... placed much to their satisfaction in the neighbourhood of East Point, and they have commenced building on five contiguous lots.18
This report was dated July 1845. However, in the Surveyor-General's return of registered allotments of 24 June 1846, he reported that the lots granted to the Chinchew merchants had been rejected by them. So again, the prospect of the settlement of wealthy Chinese merchants was not realized.
The Blue Book reports for both 1845 and 1846 noted some signs of a growing stability in the Chinese population. In 1845, it was stated that 'both in numbers and respectability the Chinese are improving, being accompanied in a greater number of instances by their families', and in 1846, 'the proportion of females increases as a feeling of security induced Chinese settlers to bring over their families'. The settling of families was welcomed because it indi-cated that the Chinese who did settle were willing to consider Hong Kong a place of permanent residence. Although some progress had been noted in this area, the report for 1848 indicated that it had not been sustained. There exists no local attachment, which may be ascribed to the absence of respectable families born on the island, with which the adventurers could contract marriages. The rent of houses and shops is at present low enough to enable any man who has a middling trade to lodge his family, yet very few decent married females reside here. In this respect there has been very little improvement during the past year.' The paucity of Chinese families in Hong Kong is reflected in the annual census of shops and buildings. In 1845, there were as many brothels as fami-lies, twenty-five families and twenty-six brothels. Within five
years, the number of families had increased to one hundred and forty-one, but there were only six more brothels than in 1845. The 1850s saw a substantial influx of Chinese families escaping from the turbulent conditions in Kwantung Province created by the Taiping rebellion.
This influx changed the characteristics of Hong Kong's Chinese population, which acquired more stability, responsibility, and eco-nomic strength. An examination of an emerging elite in this period shows that its members can be divided into five occupational groups: contractors, merchants, compradores, government ser-vants, and Christian employees of missionary groups. The biog-raphies of individuals in each of these groups found on our lists for determining elite status provide the background for elite emer-gence in the 1850s and 1860s.
The Contractors
When Hong Kong was settled, the immediate need for buildings brought many connected with the building trade to Hong Kong. Only a few were able to survive the perils of the business. They were not accustomed to building in the Western style and there-fore often underestimated on contracts, resulting in their bank-ruptcy. In 1844, the Land Officer commented that 'almost all con-tracts hitherto entered into with Chinamen have been obliged to be finished by Government, for the works were taken at far too low an estimate, and the consequence was, when the parties found they would become losers, both contractor and security de-camped, and in some instances they were imprisoned'.19
One of the few contractors who did survive in this early period of Hong Kong's history was Tam Achoy (H^) , alias Tam Sam-tshoy (I^H^), alias Tam Shek-tsun (MW}&), although he too almost went to prison for debt, escaping only through the generos-ity of his creditor. Achoy was generally recognized as the most prominent leader of the Chinese community when an elite was first beginning to emerge out of the hotchpotch of shopkeepers, crafts-men, and traders. He and Loo Aqui had built the Man-Mo Tem-ple, where they performed in part the traditional role of village elder, and Achoy was also Trustee for the I Ts'z Temple in Tai Ping Shan (1851) and the temple in Queen's Road East at Wan Chai (1869). In 1847, the Colonial Treasury had on deposit �G185 16s.8d. from Tam Achoy for erecting a Chinese school in Sheung Wan (Lower Bazaar).20
Achoy had come to Hong Kong in 1841 when the British laid claim to the island, having been formerly a foreman in the Govern-ment Dockyard at Singapore.21 He was granted a certificate for the easternmost of the lots in the Lower Bazaar and soon began to buy up the interests of the adjacent property-owners until he had acquired an extensive sea frontage. He built some of Hong Kong's most prestigious early buildings, such as the P. & O. Building and the Exchange Building, which was bought by the Government and used for many years as the Supreme Court Building. With increas-ing capital, he began to broaden his interests and secured per-mission from the Government to build and operate a market. This was a most profitable venture and when the Lower Bazaar was destroyed in the Christmas fire of 1852, Achoy soon rebuilt it, operating it under his firm's name, Kwong Yuen. During the period after 1848, when Hong Kong became a port of embarkation for thousands of emigrants, Achoy was one of the leading brokers and charterers of emigrant ships. In front of his lots he erected a wharf, which he leased to the Hong Kong, Canton and Macau Steamboat Company, after its formation in 1865. In 1860, he appeared in the courts on a charge of piracy. In response to a request by the mandarin of his home district in Hoi Ping for assis-tance in suppressing some Hakka bandits, Achoy had chartered the vessel Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy from Kwok Acheong, the P. & O. Company's compradore. Engaging some Europeans in the colony, he took them up to Hoi Ping, where they attacked some Hakka villages. Achoy pleaded that he had not realized that this would be against British law and therefore threw himself upon the mercy of the court.22 He again assisted his home district in 1865 by supplying the local militia with Western-made armaments. This earned him official recognition and a biographical notice in the Hoi Ping Gazetteer. In later years, his constitution was affected by ha-bitual opium-smoking and he did not participate actively in public affairs. He died in 1871, leaving a large fortune.23 In 1857, the editor of the Friend of China described him as being 'no doubt the most creditable Chinese in the Colony'.
Tang Aluk (��PS/^), another contractor, though not so much of a community leader as Tam Achoy, was a generous benefactor of worthy projects. He was the largest contributor to the Chinese school-book fund of 1859, contributing $60; Tam Achoy contri-buted $50, and Kwok Acheong, the P. & O. compradore contri-buted $20; all other contributions ranged from $10 to 50 cents. The fact that Tang Aluk's name was 'number six' indicates he was of humble origin. He began as a stone-cutter, most of whom were Hakka. It is probable that Aluk belonged to this group. In time, he built up a successful contracting business. At his death in 1887, he left a large estate, much of which was in landed property. The administration of his estate involved many lawsuits among his heirs. A newspaper commentator observed that the estate was a gold mine for the legal profession as suits and appeals dragged through the courts for several decades after his death.24
The Merchants
Hong Kong had difficulty attracting merchants with capital. The abortive efforts of Chinam and several Fukienese merchants to settle in Hong Kong have already been mentioned. Several other merchants appear on the earliest of the elite lists, indicating their presence in the first decade of the colony's history.
In 1852, 'Cun-wo A Kwi, merchant' contributed $5 to Dr Hirsch-berg's hospital. This was Chow Aqui (H <5 H) of thefirm Cong-wo, which had been established in the Lower Bazaar in 1842, with a branch at Canton. In 1849, he bought the lease of the Central Market, holding it until 1857. He became a large investor in real estate, but sold most of his property in 1866 and retired to Macau.
A merchant who survived the pitfalls of commerce in early Hong Kong was Wong Ping (j�G#3). He is named as a silk merchant on the landowners' petition of 1848, but he was one of Hong Kong's first industrialists in that he owned a rope walk beyond the western end of the Lower Bazaar. He was one of three Trustees to hold Inland Lot 361 in Tai Ping Shan on behalf of the Chinese community. The lot was granted in 1851 and upon it was built a temple 'for the reception of Tablets to the memory of ... deceased countrymen'.25 The building was used, however, not only for memorial tablets but also as a depository for those who were about to die, following established Chinese custom. The European com-munity was shocked when this use came to its notice. The reaction and public discussion which followed resulted in the Government allocating a grant from the revenues of the gambling monopoly to the Chinese community for the erection of a suitable hospital to be known as the Tung Wah. Wong Ping was not a member of the Organizing Committee of the Hospital, though he was on the Kai Fong Committee for 1872. He died in 1887. Wong Yue-yee, alias Wong Yick-bun, of the Chun Cheong Wing Nam Pak Hong, a
director of the Tung Wah in 1872, may have been a relative as Wong Ping is mentioned in 1881 as a managing partner of the Chun Cheung Hong for some twenty years. He was also associated with the Tsui Shing firm and the Tuck Mee Hong.
In the 1850s, the Taiping rebellion upset the social and eco-nomic structure of China. The changes in China were reflected in changes in Hong Kong. The Taiping threat upon Canton created a refugee group which sought more stable conditions in Hong Kong. Some were wealthy and brought their capital with them. The Revd Dr James Legge, reflecting upon the colony's progress during his residence there, remarked:
It has always seemed to me that this was the turning point in the progress of Hong Kong. As Canton was threatened, the families of means hastened to leave it, and many of them flocked to this Colony. Houses were in de-mand; rents rose; the streets that had been comparatively deserted assumed a crowded appearance; new commercial Chinese firms were founded; the native trade received an impetus which it did not lose till it was arrested by the superfluous vigour of some of Sir Richard MacDon-nell's early ordinances.26
A new category of Fukien brokers and merchants began to appear on the annual censuses. In 1848, two Fukien merchants and five Fukien brokers were reported, but they did not appear the following year. In 1853 there were six Fukien brokers, and within three years the number had increased sixfold. Not all the brokers and merchants were from Fukien. A significant number were Can-tonese or Chiu Chow. In 1858, a new category, 'hongs', or large merchant establishments, was introduced into the annual census of Chinese shops and businesses. Thirty-five were listed in 1858, but sixty-five in 1859.
Some of the capital brought to Hong Kong in the 1850s was invested in real estate, and a group of large land-proprietors de-veloped. These investments formed the foundation of the fortunes of several prominent Hong Kong families.
One of these families was the Li from San Wui District of Kwangtung Province who have been among the Chinese elite for well over a century. The family established its interests in Hong Kong in a very modest way in 1854, when two brothers, Li Sing ($#), alias Li Yuk-hang ($iR), and Li Leong ($K), bought an Upper Bazaar lot. They soon built up a money-changing busi-ness and lent money for mortgages. In 1857, they bought half of the lot where Chinam had previously built his large Chinese hong.
Here they established the Wo Hang firm, which operated in many different fields.
In 1865, together with two Americans, Lee Sing of the Wo Hang firm and Pang Wah-ping (0�D'iS) entered into partnership as the American Trading Company of Borneo, with the intention of de-veloping the concession that the Sultan of Brunei had granted to an American, Charles Lee Moses. The Chinese partners supplied most of the capital. The company established a settlement, but after a few years of shipbuilding, experimental planting, and trade the project was abandoned. The company did not have sufficient capital to finance the undertaking properly.27 This drain of capital may have been the primary cause of the bankruptcy of Pang Wah-ping in 1866. He had acquired his original capital from profits of trade in unprepared opium, and during his years of prosperity his name appears on the various documents used as criteria for elite status.
The Li family, however, was more firmly established and sur-vived the failure of the American Trading Company of Borneo. Its interests were diversified. It had large real estate holdings in Hong Kong, which brought in regular rental income. It was perhaps the largest broker for coolie labour and charterer of ships for these emigrants. In 1868, gambling was legalized in Hong Kong and the monopoly was bought up by the Li family firm. They also had interests in the opium monopoly.
Their financial investment in Hong Kong appears to have led them to identify their interests with the British at the time of the Second Opium War, and a Chinese source states that they 'gave contributions to foreigners to the extent of over a lakh of ready money and recruited native braves who went to the front at Tient-sin. When peace was declared they shared in the War Indemnity as well as in the Imperial effects and curios of the Yuen-ming-yuen (Summer Palaces)'.28 They were accused of supporting France in its efforts to gain control of Annam. The Chinese authorities of their home district tried to derive some benefit from the fortunes of the family by requesting large contributions for the reclama-tion of waste land. When the family seemed somewhat hesitant to meet the full demands of the authorities, they sought to provoke generosity by seizing a member of the family who happened to have returned to his home district, imprisoning him, and eventually putting him on trial.
This account of the troubles the family encountered in its rela-tions with Chinese officialdom illustrates the predicament in which wealthy merchants and compradores found themselves when ten-sions developed between the Western powers and the Imperial Government of China. If they had not cut themselves off entirely from their place of origin but tried to keep up their relations with clan and family, they exposed themselves and their family to the charge of playing traitor to Chinese interests. However, their financial connections with foreigners inclined them to identify with the foreign cause. They usually tried to have it both ways, walking the thin line, but in periods of crisis they were forced into accom-modation with the foreigners if they were to protect their financial investments.
Li Leong, one of the brothers, died in 1864, leaving his property in a family trust, which was later divided into five shares. The leadership of the clan then devolved upon Li Sing, although many other members of the family are in the Hong Kong records�X so many, in fact, that it is a difficult task to establish exact rela-tionships. But it is the name of Li Sing which appears in the var-ious lists until his death in 1900. He was one of three Trustees who held title to the Queen's Road Temple in Wan Chai in 1869. The same year, he was one of the organizing members of the Tung Wah Hospital. Other members of the family have continued the tradition of Li Sing as community leader to this day.
One of the organizing directors of the Tung Wah Hospital was Ng Yik-wan (SUS), alias Ng Chan-yeung ( SS.), of the Fuk Lung opium firm. The founder of the family in Hong Kong was Ng Yu, who first appears on the records in 1858 when the Fuk Lung opium shop was the successful bidder for the opium monopoly. He was secured by Loo Aqui who had held the monopoly in an earlier period. The Fuk Lung firm was made up of five members, all from the Tung Kwun District of Kwangtung. One of them was Shi Sing-kai, one of four named in a petition to the Government in 1878, which resulted in the organization of the Po Leung Kuk. Ng Yu, the head of the Fuk Lung firm, died in 1870, leaving his property under the management of his son, Ng Kai-kwong (^ift^fc), alias Ng Pat-shan (^5SE), alias Ng Po-leung (^ftR), who was the sole beneficiary of his father's estate. Ng Kai-kwong died in 1884, leaving three minor sons to inherit his property.
Another of the founding directors of the Tung Wah was the Chiu Chow merchant, Ko Mun-wo (iftSg^), alias Ko Cho-heung ((SSIIJ), of the Yuen Fat Hong. He was the founder of the firm
which established itself in Hong Kong about 1858 and developed an extensive business in the importation of rice from Siam. It soon became one of the wealthiest Chinese firms. In 1881, Ko Mun-wo was the sixteenth highest ratepayer, and when he died the follow-ing year, the value of his estate was estimated at $163,000. After his death, the business was continued by his four sons.
Tang Pak-yeung (SPftllJf), alias Tang Kam-chi (W>$^�G.), was the youngest member of the first Tung Wah Hospital Committee. He was a merchant in the chartering firm of Kwong Lei Yuen and had received an English-language education. He was not a large property-owner, nor does his name appear in other lists of the elite.
The Compradores
The compradores were an important new class which arose in the nineteenth century in the port cities of China. A recent study by Yen-p'ing Hao entitled The Compradore in Nineteenth Century China, Bridge between East and West29 shows how influential this group became in providing capital for the introduction of modern forms of communication, industry, mining, banking, and journal-ism in the later Ch'ing dynasty. The origin of the compradore sys-tem lay in the Co-hong organization through which China chan-nelled all trade with foreigners before the opening of the treaty ports in 1843. The compradores were recruited from the Canton and Macau areas. A large majority of the most influential compra-dore families were from the Heung Shan District near Macau. When foreign firms came to Hong Kong they brought with them their compradores. As trade increased on the China coast, the compradores were provided with an opportunity to accumulate considerable capital. This they invested in real estate and in Chinese commercial firms.
The later Ch'ing dynasty was often in financial difficulties. One method of raising income was through the sale of official degrees. The compradores and merchants of the port cities, who formed a newly created bourgeois nouveau riche group within Chinese soci-ety, were eager customers. Purchased degrees were an easy way to acquire a social status which had previously been reserved for scholars, government officials, and gentry. The account of the Governor's visit to the Tung Wah Hospital in 1878, published in the Hongkong Government Gazette, states that 'there were pre-
sent nearly three hundred influential Chinese residents from all classes of the community. Of those present somefifty or sixty were in their mandarin costumes'.
When the second Sino-British war broke out in the late 1850s, the foreign firms at Canton moved to Hong Kong, taking their compradores with them. This influx was an impetus to the already significant role that compradores were assuming as leaders in the Chinese community. The compradores of the old-established Hong Kong firms formed the core of this leadership.
In the early days of the colony, the two leading foreign firms were Jardine, Matheson and Company and Dent and Company. One would expect, of course, that their compradores would be among the elite of the Chinese community. The earliest compra-dore of Jardines that I can definitely identify is Ng Chook (^fZ), alias Ng Choong-foong, alias Sooi Tong. At the time of the open-ing of the Tung Wah Hospital, the newspaper account states that he was the oldest man on the committee, although his name does not appear on the official list of committee members. He died some months after the opening. His estate was administered by his son Ng Seng-kee (^dcS?), who was living in Shanghai. The first date to be found for Ng Chook in Hong Kong is his purchase of the lease of the Central Market in 1848. It is uncertain whether he is connected with Ng Sow and Ng Lok, both compradores origi-nating from Macau, who bought and sold a large amount of real estate from 1842 to 1847; or whether Ng Wei, alias Ng Wing-fui (^^H) , alias Ng Ping-un (^*ififi), who was a compradore for Jardines at Foochow in the 1860s and subsequently at Hong Kong, was a near relative of Ng Chook. Ng Wei was a member of the Tung Wah Hospital Committee in 1883 and died in 1897 at Canton.
In 1861, two of the compradores of Dent and Company, the rival of Jardines, provided capital for a significant real estate de-velopment in Hong Kong. The large property where Dent and Company had their stables and residences for their taipans was bought up by Chiu Wing-chuen and Yeong Lan-ko, along with two European partners of the firm, with the intention of building Chinese houses of a better type to accommodate the wives and families of the growing class of well-to-do compradores. Previously, the compradores had not brought their families to Hong Kong; they remained in their home village or in Canton. The editor of the China Mail comments that 'Messrs Dent and Company have shown both wisdom and kindness in disposing of their land for such purposes'.30
Chiu Wing-tsun (&8SM), one of the purchasers, and his elder brother, Yuk Ting (3E^), had both been compradores in Dent and Company. Their nephew, Chiu Yee-chee (i^PRS), was com-pradore at Shanghai and became one of the organizers of the China Merchants' Steam Navigation Company in 1872. Chiu Wing-tsun died at Macau in 1873, leaving property in Hong Kong esti-mated at $111,000.31 Yeong Lan-ko (SBBiS), the other Chinese purchaser of the Dent property, had succeeded his relative, Yeong Atai (S?55^), alias Yeong Chun-kum, to the position of first com-pradore of Dents at Hong Kong upon the latter's death in 1870. Yeong Lan-ko, alias Yeong Sun-yow (HBRI&), also known as Asam (5H) , was one of Hong Kong's largest landowners. In 1876, he was the nineteenth largest ratepayer and, in 1881, had risen to fifth position. He died in 1884 at Pak Shan, the family village in Heung Shan District.
Before the Dents sold their property, the few substantial Chin-ese who had family residences in Hong Kong were located at the former Middle Bazaar site. When the inhabitants of the Middle Bazaar had been relocated at Tai Ping Shan, the Government replotted the area and set aside new lots which were meant to be bought principally by Europeans for residences or business houses.32 Two of the more substantial Chinese bought lots at the sale in 1844: Ying Wing-kee (^.7k��t), alias Ng Wing-kee (^7kK), a compradore and merchant who died in 1849, and Tong Kam-sing, a contractor who died in 1845. Other Chinese of this class soon bought lots from European owners so that they might establish family houses in a better part of town. These included Wei Akwong, compradore of Bowra and Company and later of the Chartered Mercantile Bank; Ho Sek, compradore of Lyall, Still and Company; Lee Kip-tye, a Fukien broker, who began his Hong Kong career as a government interpreter; Wong Shing, newspaper editor and manager of the London mission press; and Cheung Achew, a wealthy carpenter.33 The Revd Ho Fuk-tong and his family lived in the nearby compound of the London Mis-sionary Society. In time, this area around Peel, Graham, and Gage Streets and Hollywood Road became a centre for Parsee and Indian merchants, as well as European brothels. Some of the old families stayed on, but the opening-up of the area bounded by Wyndham, Wellington, and Pottinger Streets by the Dents pro-vided a needed location for the houses of the more well-to-do Chinese. After the Peak was developed in the 1870s and 1880s, the wealthy Chinese moved up to Mid-levels, occupying the mansions of the Europeans who moved to the Peak.
Of the individuals who had their family residence in the former Middle Bazaar area were two who were on the organizing commit-tee of the Tung Wah Hospital, Wong Shing and Ho Asek ( HS�Gg ), alias Ho Fai-yin (fflH^S), alias Ho In-kee. Ho Asek first appears in Hong Kong records in 1849, when he purchased a lot in Tai Ping Shan. At the time, he was compradore of the opium firm of Lyall, Still and Company. It failed in 1867 and Ho Asek embarked upon his own business ventures under the firm name of Kin Nam. According to a newspaper account, he was subject to a $2,000 'squeeze' from the mandarins during the second Sino-British war.34 He traded extensively in opium as well as rice and, in 1871, held the gambling monopoly from which within a year he realized a profit of $28,000. In an action brought against him in 1871, he testified that he operated with a capital of $200,000.35 In 1868, two of his employees were brought before the court on a charge of extortion. In the evidence presented it was stated that, in about September 1866, some influential Chinese started a system of sub-scription or unofficial taxation to support district watchmen. The city had been divided into two sections, East and West. The West District was superintended by Tam Achoy and Ho Asek, 'a most respectable and honest trader'. A shopkeeper resisted the pressure put upon him to contribute and brought a charge of extortion against two of Asek's employees who had been collecting for the scheme. The court gave judgment in favour of the defendants.36 Ho Asek was still a member of the Kai Fong Committee in 1872. He died in Pang Po (probably Ping Po (ZP*)), Shun Tak District in 1877. His wife was granted letters of administration on his estate, but as she was blind, she gave her power of attorney to Wei Akwong. His estate was held in trust until 1919, when the family property was sold at auction.
Dent and Company (which failed in 1867) and Jardine, Mathe-son and Company were the leading firms in Hong Kong in the early years; but if we think of the financial giants today, the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank takes its place beside the leading hongs. The Bank was organized in 1865, and, as we might expect, its first compradore, Lo Pak-sheung (Hf&#), alias Lo Chung-kong (tmMM), was on the Tung Wah's organizing committee. He died in 1877 and his position as compradore was taken by his son, Lo Hok-pang (USIB), alias Lo Sau-ko (BmM). Unfortu-nately, the son overcommitted himself in several speculative ven-tures and, not seeing any legitimate way of extricating himself from his financial difficulties, absconded in 1892 with over a mil-lion dollars of the Bank's assets;,at least, that is the figure reported in the newspaper accounts. An indication of his penchant for un-wise investments is the $30,000 he put into the organization of the Vet Po newspaper in 1885. Within a year this had been spent and he was forced to sell out to Lo Ping-chi, who was able to operate the paper with an expenditure of only several thousand dollars for a number of years.37
In the field of shipping, the P. & O. Steamship Company played an important role in the Hong Kong economy. It established a branch in the colony in 1845. Its compradore was Kwok Acheong (?Ei5fl�D), alias Kwok Kam-cheung (IW#) . The newspaper notice of his death states that he 'originally belonged to ... the boat people's clan, but afterwards obtained admission to Tam Achoi's clan, Tam Achoi being a Punti ... \38 This substantiates my previous statement that the boat people who settled on land generally wished to lose the peculiarities of their origins. Acheong was one of the first settlers in Hong Kong, having organized a provisioning system for the army and navy at the time of the first Sino-British war. However, he did not receive the extensive land privileges granted to Loo Aqui for his services. When the P. & O. Company disposed of their shipwright and engineering depart-ment in 1854, it was taken over by Kwok Acheong. He developed a fleet of steamships in the 1860s which provided keen competition for the European-controlled Hong Kong, Canton and Macau Steamboat Company. In addition to his shipping interests, he operated a bakery, imported cattle into the colony and operated as a general merchant under the firm name of Fat Hing. In 1876, he was the third largest ratepayer in Hong Kong, and the first among the Chinese. He died in 1880, leaving an estate valued at $445,000. He was survived by seven sons. Two of them were listed among the twenty largest ratepayers in 1881, Kwok Ying-kai being eighth and Kwok Ying-shew fourteenth. Both of them became involved in the land speculation mania of 1881 and their property became subject to foreclosure.
The death notice of Kwok Acheong states that he was one of the original directors of the Tung Wah Hospital and the year before
his death he was re-elected to that position. As he died in 1880, he must be the same as the Kwok Siu-chung (IK**) , alias Kwok Ching-san (JPKf U-1), of the Fat Hing firm listed as a director of the hospital in 1879 and in 1873. He was a member of the Kai Fong Committee in 1872 and signed almost all the lists and subscrip-tions. The Government frequently consulted him about affairs which affected the Chinese community. His death warranted an extensive biographical notice in the English-language papers. It characterized him as 'a man of remarkable intelligence and keen-ness in business, and of great cheerfulness and urbanity in his social relations. He was a liberal subscriber to all charities and behaved handsomely to those in his employ. His acquaintance with the English language never rose above'respectable "pidgen"; but he agreed well with and was much respected by foreigners, with whom he had constant intercourse and large transactions'.39 His funeral cortege was one of the largest Hong Kong had witnessed. It took one hour and thirteen minutes to pass one spot. One of its features was four tablets on poles with flowers surrounding the inscriptions of his purchased Chinese ranks.
The Chairman of the organizing committee of the Tung Wah was the compradore of Gibb, Livingston and Company named Leong On (^^c), alias Leung Wan-hon (^SH) , alias Leung Hok-chau (^ftH) . He would seem to be the same as the Leong Po-wan named as Gibb, Livingston and Company's compradore on the 1852 list of contributions to Dr Hirschberg's hospital. On the 1859 contribution list for Chinese textbooks he appears under his usual name, Leong On.
In 1876, the London Missionary Society wished to raise funds for a proposed school in Wan Chai. Mr Eitel called a meeting of leading Chinese compradores to present his Society's plans to them and to enlist their financial support. However, he encoun-tered the opposition of Leung On at the meeting. Eitel wrote to the mission directors in London:
I explained the whole subject, especially dwelling on the point that as soon as our native church is able to provide for all the expenses connected with the chapel it shall be handed over to the native church, and that I intended to insert the same stipulation in the deed for the school building. Unfortunately there was a very loquacious compradore present, who lately at an interview with the Governor made himself notorious by his nar-row selfconceit, a Mr. Leung On, compradore to Gibb, Livingston and Company. He proposed that we should teach the boys no religion but confine ourselves to exclusively secular teachings. When I positively de-clined doing any such thing, he cooly proposed that I should hand over the piece of ground to him, saying he would build the school himself and keep it going if the Bible and Christian books were excluded. Of course, I de-clined this proposal, and stuck to my own plans.40
It is not surprising that Eitel does not mention Leung On as one of the contributors to the school fund, though he quickly raised $585 from other compradores and felt confident that the amount could be increased to $2,500 with more extensive solicitations.
In 1883, Leung On encountered business reverses and the court appointed Trustees to administer his bankrupt estate. He died in 1890 at Canton, leaving an estate in Hong Kong estimated as being worth $20,000. His son and his grandson succeeded to his position as compradore for Gibb, Livingston and Company, the latter dying in 1962; thus, the Leung family served the company for well over a century.
Fung Ming-shan (MWM)9 alias Fung Po-hai ($��#!.), alias Fung Chew (ii) , another of the founders of the Tung Wah, was compradore to A.H. Hogg and Company in the 1870s, but later became the compradore of the Chartered Mercantile Bank. He had received an English-language education and may have been a classmate of Ng Choy (Wu Ting-fang) at St. Paul's College, as they were partners in several land transactions in Hong Kong. Fung Ming-shan was one of the signatories in 1878 of the petition from natives of Tung Kwun District to the Government concerning the kidnapping and sale of children, which resulted in the organization of the Po Leung Kuk. He was naturalized as a British subject in 1881. He died in 1898, leaving a widow and two sons, one of whom died in 1906.
Another of the organizing directors of the Tung Wah was the compradore of Gilman and Company, Choy Wing-chip (HTKSC), alias Choy Lung-chi (HHi) . Along with Choey Teo-soon and Chop Aping, he was a partner in the Wing Cheong Shun firm, which failed in 1873 owing some 160,000 taels. He was probably the brother of Choy Aloy, who was compradore to J.J. dos Re-medios and Company in the 1870s; both were in Hong Kong as early as 1865. Choy Achip died in 1874 and the administration of his estate was granted to his eldest son, Choy Afoong.
One compradore family from Macau that appears on a number of lists had by 1881 become the largest ratepayer. It was headed by Ng Acheong (S5H) , alias Ng Ying-cheong (j* M H), who died in
1873. He left an estate worth $260,000. The family were compra-dores to the firm of Messrs Douglas Lapraik and Company. Lap-raik began his career as a jeweller and watchmaker, but by the 1850s had extended his business into commerce, and eventually the firm built up a large shipping concern. His compradore first appears on the Hong Kong records in 1855. After the death of Ng Acheong in 1873, a near relative, Ng Sang (���G�G), alias Ng Ying-sang, alias Ng Chuk-shau, succeeded as compradore. He fell vic-tim to the fever of land speculation in 1881 and suffered heavy losses. Concern over his strained financial position so affected his health that he died in 1883. Action was brought by his employers against the Ng family property to cover debts he left in his compra-dore's account.
The Government Servants
A lifelong career by a Chinese in government service usually would not have provided an opportunity for the accumulation of sufficient capital to enable him to enter the elite group. The highest-paid positions were those of interpreter, but a Chinese who had sufficient competence in English to be appointed to this position could earn more as an employee of foreign firms. How-ever, many of the young men who received an English-language education, at first in the mission schools or at the Morrison Educa-tion Society School and, after 1860, at the Government Central School (now Queen's College), upon leaving school became inter-preters and clerks in the Government. They might stay with the Government for several years but normally did not make a life career of government service. There were, however, two long-serving government employees, Tso Aon and Cheong Assow, who rose to elite status.
When the British established their government offices in Hong Kong, the man who became responsible for all the Chinese staff in government offices, as well as serving as compradore to the Treas-ury, was Tso Aon (WS^) , alias Cho Yune-choong, alias Cho Wing-chow. His family had lived in Macau for several generations, and in 1834 he entered the service of the British in the office of the Superintendent of Trade. (With the revocation of the charter of the East India Company at Canton, a Superintendent of Trade was appointed by the British Government.) When he moved to Hong Kong, he had accumulated enough capital to invest in real estate,
and when he retired from government service in 1857 without a pension, he lived off the income from his real estate, pawnshops, and other business ventures. He died in 1874 at Macau and was survived by several sons. One of his grandsons was the Revd Tso See-kai (WS feb), Vicar of St. Paul's (born 1895, died in 1928). Tso Aon's brother, Chow Yik-chong (f��l) , alias Chow Yin-yin, alias Chow Yau (W*), alias Chow Kam-ming (W^0J), alias Chow Wai-chun (If ifilft), was a large landowner and capitalist in Macau. He was knighted by the Portuguese Government, made a member of the Macau Legislative Council, and was a leader of the Chinese community in Macau. He died in 1896. His son, Tso Seen-wan, came to Hong Kong, practised law, and was a member of the Legislative Council from 1929 to 1937.
Another government employee appearing on a number of elite lists, although his family was not as distinguished as that of Tso Aon, was the Overseer of Coolies in the Surveyor-General's De-partment. Cheong Assow (31135 If) was appointed to this office in September 1844. He also invested in real estate, which upon his death in 1897 was divided among his seven sons. In 1848, the Surveyor-General suggested that Assow was underpaid, as he found him an invaluable man in his department:
The headman Assow I cannot speak too highly of, he is intelligent, hon-est, and careful, and displays great zeal for the Department. He under-stands English perfectly, and I can trust him to make measurements for me upon lines that are clearly defined, which he performs with great accuracy ... His wages are very small for a man of his usefulness, and I should wish much that they were raised as he is one of the most deserving Chinamen I ever met. His education under me (for he has now been in the Department nearlyfive years) has progressed so satisfactorily that he is of more service than many of the English overseers I have employed, whose wages are never less than $30 per mensem.41
Those Employed by Missions
Another group which identified itself with Hong Kong was a small number of Christians who came from Malacca, Singapore, and Macau under the patronage of missionaries. As Christian con-verts, they had renounced the traditional practices connected with the veneration of ancestors and thus cut themselves off from parti-cipation in the ritual observances which bound the Chinese family together. There seemed little chance that they could expect to be
welcomed back in their home villages. In a sense, they were as marginal to the social structure of China as were those who had had to flee China because of criminal activities. Unlike the trades-men and small merchants, they did not view Hong Kong as an opportunity to make a quick fortune which they could take back to their home village and invest in paddy-fields or in shares in local firms and shops, or, if more affluent, endow or build schools or family temples, or contribute to public improvements such as roads and bridges.
Originally, the Christian Chinese were in the employment of the missions, and as most of them remained so, they did not receive high wages. But, as earnest Christians, they did not pass their time in gambling, visiting the sing-song girls, or smoking opium. All of these activities tended to make inroads into the income of many of the other Chinese, particularly those who were in Hong Kong without families. Avoiding the temptations of money-absorbing local high-life, the Christians were able to invest their small sav-ings in real estate. When the London Missionary Society moved to Hong Kong, the Revd James Legge brought with him from Malacca a printer named Ho Asun (MESS), alias Ho Ye-tong (HS�GS), and Ho Tsun-shin (ffljftH), alias Ho Fuk-tong (Hil^), alias Ho Yeung (MS). They both began to invest in Hong Kong real estate, though Ho Fuk-tong became much the larger proprietor. They made their first investment soon after their arrival, but as income from rents permitted, they continued to purchase property until their deaths. Ho Asun died in 1869 and Ho Fuk-tong in 1871. At the time of their deaths, their property had appreciated greatly in value, so that the value of Ho Fuk-tong's estate was $150,000. It was one of the largest estates appearing on the schedules up to that date.
Although neither of these two Christian converts appear on the lists,42 their children assumed a place of leadership in the Chinese community. Of the several sons of Ho Asun, Ho Chung-shan (Hffit) was proprietor of the Wah Tsz Yat Po from 1886 to 1889; but his brother, Ho Shan-chee (PJWS), or Ho Alloy (fsjgg*), had a more prominent career. He began as a teacher of English in the Chinese government schools (1855-7) and then became Chief Interpreter in the Police Court (1857-66). He incurred the ill-will of the English section of the community when he accepted charge of the opium tax station that the Viceroy of the Two Kwangs attempted to establish in Hong Kong. In the 1870s, he joined the staff of the provincial government at Fukien, where the Daily Press correspondent from Foochow reported that the Governor of Fukien was 'happy in the possession of this peripatetic conglom-eration of legal imposture and contemptible impudence'. He later was part of Chan Lai-tau's ambassadorial staff at Washington, and upon his return to China in 1882, promoted the organization of the Canton and Hong Kong Telegraph Company.43
Associated with Ho Shan-chee in the Telegraph Company was a kinsman, Ho Kwan-shan (MMill), alias Ho Amei (HSU) , the Secretary of the On Tai Insurance Company in Hong Kong. Ho Kwan-shan had been educated at Dr Legge's Anglo-Chinese Col-lege in Hong Kong and was a schoolmate of the sons of Ho Asun. Upon completing his education, Ho Kwan-shan joined his elder brother, Ho Low-yuk (HSLEE ), in Australia in 1858. From Austra-lia he went to New Zealand in 1865 to arrange for the importation of the first Chinese labourers to New Zealand. Returning to Aus-tralia, he served for a time as interpreter at Ballarat, Victoria. In 1868, he came back to Hong Kong, where he became a clerk in the Registrar-General's Office. Later, he became interested in developing mines on Lantau Island and in Kwangtung Province.44
The most prominent of the Ho clan, however, was the family of Ho Tsun-shin (H5iiF) or, as he was better known in Christian circles, Ho Fuk-tong (Mil^). His father had been a block-cutter for the press of the Anglo-Chinese College at Malacca. Ho Fuk-tong joined him there and became a student at the College. He showed scholastic aptitude and for a time accompanied the son of the senior missionary at the Malacca Station to India for advanced study. Upon the arrival of the Revd James Legge at the mission, a close bond was established between the two young men. Ho Fuk-tong was his junior by three years. When Legge moved to Hong Kong in 1843, Ho Fuk-tong accompanied him and was ordained as the Chinese pastor of the London Missionary Society congregation in 1846. He continued as a faithful minister of the congregation (now Hop Yat Church) until his death in 1871. He was conscien-tious in his service to the church, but he was also very successful as a financier. After his death, there were numerous court suits over the interpretation of his will and the administration of his estate. Some of the difficulties arose because Ho Fuk-tong held his pro-perty under various aliases. In one of the cases, a barrister gave his opinion as to why Ho Fuk-tong followed this procedure:
He was not only perhaps a good preacher but a remarkably good man of
business. He undoubtedly made a good use of his time, money and oppor-tunities. He was a man who, from comparatively small beginnings, in-vested small sums of money in lots of land which he held on to, un-doubtedly became in course of some years a man of considerable means and property. ... As a man in this position he took a very sensible view of the character and disposition of the gentleman under who he was working in his special services as a preacher. He came to the conclusion that Dr. Chalmers, the head of the Mission by whom he was employed, would not like a man engaged in such services to have too great an interest in money. It was not wise for him to pose as a man possessing very much property, and if it were known that he did possess so much, more assistance might be looked for from him on behalf of the mission, than he cared to give.45
Be that as it may, this wealth did enable his sons to acquire a good education and thus qualify themselves for leadership in the Chinese community.
In 1873, his son, Ho Kai (faift), went to study in England. He returned with degrees in medicine and law and an English bride. His wife soon died and her bereaved husband endowed the Alice Memorial Hospital in her memory. Ho Kai was said to have been the first Chinese in Hong Kong to wear Western-style clothes. He was a recognized leader of the Chinese. A member of the Legisla-tive Council from 1890 to 1914, he was knighted in 1912.46
Another son of the Revd Ho Fuk-tong, Ho Wyson, alias Ho Shan-po (H#ft) , also studied law in England. He did not have the gifts of leadership of his father and brother. An account of him written in 1891 states that although he 'is a thoroughly well read lawyer, ... [he] is handicapped in court practice by a bashful mo-desty and a deficiency in what is known as "the gift of gab". He is also handicapped in general business by his phenomenally limited office hours. It is a joke in legal circles that Wyson's hours are from twelve to three, with an interval of one hour for tiffin'.47 He died in 1891.
Another son of the Revd Ho Fuk-tong, Ho Shan-yow ( H#i6), was a student of law. In 1897, he was a member of the ambassado-rial staff of his brother-in-law, Wu Ting-fang, and became Consul-General in San Francisco, where he promoted the organization of the Chinese American Commercial Company, which had capital of a million dollars.
The eldest daughter of Ho Fuk-tong, Ho Mui-ling, married Ng Choy (ffi ^) , alias Wu Ting-fang (ffi g 5f), a young graduate of St. Paul's College. Ng Choy's father was a business man who had spent some years at Singapore, where he became a Christian and
married a Malay woman. He returned to Canton and put his two eldest sons, Afat and Akwong, into the boarding-school of the Presbyterian mission. In 1851, when the California gold-fever was rampant in Kwangtung, Ng Afat was the ringleader in stirring up the students of the school to rebel against the hold the school had over them because of the bonds their parents had signed guaran-teeing that their sons would stay in the school until their education had been completed. The students resented being held to this agreement as they wished to try their fortune in the gold-fields. The school authorities found it necessary to dismiss Afat. He came to Hong Kong and was employed as clerk in the Police Magistracy. His brother, Akwong, was a more tractable student and success-fully completed his course of studies. After leaving school, he too came to Hong Kong and was for a short time an interpreter in the Harbour Master's Office, but then, in about 1864, became the General Manager of the Chinese edition (Chung Ngoi San Po) of the Daily Press.48 The Wu family was interested in promoting Chinese jounalism. In the obituary notice of Mr Chiu Yu-tsun, in the Daily Press of 12 June 1908, the editor of the Chung Ngoi San Po stated that when he joined the staff of the paper in 1873 it was 'under the management of the present Chinese Minister to Washington H.E. Wu Ting Fan and his brother the late Mr Ng Chan'. When Ng Chan died about 1890, Mr Chiu succeeded as sub-lessee and General Manager.
Wu Ting-fang was only 4 years old when the family returned from Singapore. In time, he became a student of St. Paul's College in Hong Kong, where he was baptized. Upon graduation, he fol-lowed the pattern set by his brothers and entered government ser-vice as chief clerk and shroff in the Court of Summary Jurisdiction. However, with the financial assistance of his wife's share in the estate of Ho Fuk-tong, he was able to study law in England. He returned to Hong Kong to practise law and in time was appointed a Magistrate. In 1880, Governor Hennessy appointed him as the first Chinese member of the Legislative Council. He served for two years, but then resigned to join the staff of Viceroy Li Hung-chang at Tientsin. In 1897, he was appointed the Chinese Ambassador to the United States and continued serving his country in other posts of responsibility until his death in 1922.
A classmate and good friend of Wu Ting-fang, named Chan Ay in (&�GS K), alias Chan Oi-ting (WII?), was one of thirty repre-sentatives of the Chinese community to call on Governor Sir
Arthur Kennedy to welcome him to Hong Kong in 1872. He is also named among fourteen who, dressed in their official robes as mandarins, welcomed the Governor on his visit to the Tung Wah Hospital in 1878. He was baptized while a student at St. Paul's College and, like most of the others whose careers are being con-sidered in this section, entered government service after com-pleting his education. He was connected with the Magistrate's Court, but in 1871 he left to become a reporter for the China Mail. When the China Mail began publishing the Wah Tsz Yat Po in 1872, he was head of this department. In 1877, he surrendered his lease of the paper but continued with the China Mail for a short period. He then gave up his career in journalism to join the staff of the newly appointed Chinese Ambassador to the United States. As a member of the staff, he was appointed Consul-General in Havana, Cuba. He continued to serve in the Chinese diplomatic service for ten years, but then returned to China where he became director of the Chinese Engineering and Mining Com-pany and of the Shanghai-Nanking Railway Administration. He died at Shanghai in 1905.49
While editor of the Wah Tsz Yat Po, Chan Oi-ting was also in-strumental in organizing and managing the Chinese Printing and Publishing Company, which bought the press and type of the Lon-don mission press in 1872. This company began publishing the Tsun Wan Yat Po (Universal Circulating Herald) in February 1874. It advertised itself as the 'first daily newspaper ever issued under purely native auspices'. The paper was registered under the name of Wong T'ao (EEfB), a scholar of the Chinese classics. Few Chinese in Hong Kong at this period were noted for their literary or scholarly ability. Ho Fuk-tong was a good scholar, but in the area of Christian thought; having mastered Greek and Hebrew, he translated and edited Biblical commentaries in Chinese. Though acquainted with the Chinese classics, he was not an outstanding Chinese scholar. Wong T'ao, who like Ho Fuk-tong was closely associated with the Revd James Legge, was generally recognized as a competent Chinese literatus. He was a baptized Christian and had come to Hong Kong from Shanghai because of suspected con-nections with the Taiping movement. He was recommended to Legge by the missionaries in Shanghai. Legge, who was involved in translating the Chinese classics, found Wong T'ao to be an in-valuable assistant and paid him the following tribute: 'This scholar, far exceeding in classical (knowledge) more than any of his country-men whom the author had previously known, came to Hong Kong in the end of 1863, and placed at his disposal all the treasures of a large well-selected library. At the same time entering with spirit into his labours, now explaining, now arguing, as the case might be, he has not only helped but enlivened many days of toil'.50 Wong T'ao continued as editor of the Tsun Wan Yat Po until he left Hong Kong to return to Shanghai in 1884. He was largely res-ponsible for the prestige the paper achieved, fulfilling in some measure the hopes of the prospectus for the paper that it 'would eventually become in China what the London Times is in England'.51 As a mark of his position in the community, his name appears on several memorials and deputations of representatives of the Chinese in Hong Kong in the 1880s.
Another Christian who was instrumental in introducing Western-style journalism in China was Wong Shing (MW), alias Wong Ping-po (^�D^) . Like Ho Fuk-tong and Wong T'ao, he was closely associated with Dr Legge for a number of years.
Wong Shing was a native of Heung Shan District near Macau and was in the first class of the Morrison Educational Society School. The school's principal, the Revd Samuel Robbins Brown, took Wong Shing with three other students to the United States in 1846 for advanced study. Wong Shing's health broke down and he had to return to Hong Kong after two years in America. While he was abroad, he had been baptized and, on his return, became a member of the Chinese congregation of the London Missionary Society. One of his benefactors had been Andrew Shortrede, owner and publisher of the China Mail, and for about two years after his return from America he worked for the China Mail. In 1864, mention is made of a Chinese publication known as Assing's Daily General Price Current.52 This was probably a journalistic venture of Wong Shing. He also served as an interpreter for the Govern-ment. In 1853, he was placed in charge of the printing establish-ment of the Anglo-Chinese College operated by the London mis-sion. He continued as manager for some ten years, when he left to join the staff of the Chinese Government School being established at Shanghai to teach foreign languages to Chinese students. However, he did not find the work there satisfactory, and after a short time returned to Hong Kong and resumed management of the mission press. In 1872, he went to Peking to set up a printing office with moveable type for the Tsungli Yamen. From there he went to the United States with the second group of students in
Yung Wing's Chinese Educational Mission scheme. In 1858, his was the first Chinese name to appear on the roll of jurors in Hong Kong. He was a member of the organizing committee for the Tung Wah Hospital. In 1884, he was the second Chinese to be appointed to the Legislative Council, serving until 1890. He died in 1902. His obituary mentioned his frugality and his lack of parsimony: 'His family was poor and he was taught to be frugal. He could save about $1,000 and bought land in Hong Kong ... before Hong Kong business flourished ... It increased ten times in value. He had the opportunity to raise rent, but he did not do so. Those who had property and could earn more ridiculed him. He had a family of children, and his expenditures increased, so that his income did not take care of his expenditures, but he still held to his idea.'53 Realizing the advantages he had derived from a foreign education, he was among the first Chinese to finance privately the education of his children abroad.
When the Revd Elijah Bridgman, a missionary of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, moved to Hong Kong from Macau in 1842, he had under his patronage two young men who had been his students. They had also been sponsored by the Morrison Education Society as students at the boarding-school of the American Board at Singapore. One was Leung Tsun-tak (W&'&), who was employed as an interpreter at the Hong Kong Magistracy. He was a son of Leung Afat (5?358), an ordained evangelist of the London Missionary Society.54 The other was Wei Akwong (M-'&Jt), whom Bridgman had picked up sick and starv-ing on the streets of Macau some years previously. Akwong, un-like the other Chinese mentioned here, never received baptism. At first, he assisted Bridgman in his missionary work in Hong Kong, but when Bridgman moved to Canton in 1845 Akwong re-mained in Hong Kong. He became compradore for the ship chand-lers and storekeepers Bowra and Company, but in 1855 was appointed Supreme Court Interpreter in Chinese and Malay. In 1857, when the Mercantile Bank of India, London and China opened its Hong Kong office, Wei Akwong became the bank's compradore. He retained this office until his death in 1878 and was succeeded by his son, Wei Ayuk ($55) , alias Wei Bo-shan (SJfgi). Wei Akwong was a recognized leader of the Chinese community, and his name appears on numerous petitions and memorials. Like Wong Shing, he sent his sons abroad to study. His eldest son, Wei Yuk, married a daughter of Wong Shing, and followed in the footsteps of his father-in-law by serving on the Legislative Council from 1896 to 1917.55 He was knighted in 1919 and died in 1922.
The Bishop of Victoria had under his patronage upon his arrival in Hong Kong in 1850 a young Chinese whom he had met in Eng-land. Chan Tai-kwong (W3:Jt) was a native of Pun Yu District of Kwangtung, but he turned up in England in 1845 as a young man aged 18. How he got to England and what he was doing there is difficult to determine but in 1849 the newly appointed Bishop of Victoria met him and took him under his patronage, with the hope that he could be trained as an evangelist among the Chinese. Soon after coming to Hong Kong, Tai-kwong was sent to Singapore to marry Gay Eng, also known as Sarah Hughes, a pupil in a school for Chinese girls conducted by Miss Grant. Upon his return to Hong Kong he was placed on three years' probation before ordina-tion, but the Bishop did license him to preach to the prisoners in Victoria Gaol. Chan Tai-kwong, however, had difficulties adjust-ing to his new position. His experience in England had spoiled him. He had received much attention and had been presented to the Archbishop of Canterbury, who had been impressed enough to make him a gift of theological works to start his library. But the Hong Kong Bishop's hopes of using him as an agent for the Church of England's mission among the Chinese were soon dimmed. He was deficient in Chinese and had to begin a course of study in the Chinese classics. At the same time, the English he had acquired during his stay abroad was not sufficient to write grammatical English. In spite of these deficiencies, he was appointed an assistant tutor in the newly opened St. Paul's Col-lege. When the Bishop went to Shanghai in 1853 to investigate rumours concerning the Christian aspect of the Taiping move-ment, he took Chan Tai-kwong and another prospective evangel-ist, Lo Sam-yuen, with him. The two Chinese tried to get through the Imperial lines and reach Nanking; but they ran into frequent outbreaks of hostility between the warring groups and were forced to return to Shanghai.
Chan Tai-kwong's interest, however, was neither in being an evangelist nor in being a teacher, or even perhaps an emissary of Christian interests to the Taipings. He was attracted to the busi-ness world and the prospect of wealth. The advantages of his con-nections and his ability to speak English furnished a ready entry into Hong Kong's business world. In 1856, he left St. Paul's Col-lege and served for a time as an interpreter in the Government, as well as taking advantage of some business offers. He was also taken on by a group of Chinese engaged in the opium trade.
Financed by Leong Attoy, Li Tuk-cheong and Li Chun�Xthe latter two members of the Li family's Wo Hang firm�XChan Tai-kwong bid for the opium monopoly in 1858. It was granted to him, but his firm soon ran intofinancial difficulties and he was forced to renege on the contract after several months. The Sheriff foreclosed on the property of Chan Tai-kwong. He then appears to have left the colony, perhaps going to Singapore. However, in December 1867, he was appointed Chinese clerk and shroff to the Hong Kong Court of Summary Jurisdiction. Here he often served as arbitrator in disputes among Chinese. He continued with the Court until his death in 1882. His son-in-law, George Orley, a sanitary inspector, was appointed administrator of his estate, which was valued at $3,000.
Chan Tai-kwong only appears once on our elite lists. In 1872, he was a member of the general committee of the Tung Wah Hospi-tal. He was a member of the Masonic Order in Hong Kong. His first four children, a son and three daughters, were baptized at St. John's Cathedral, but his venture into the opium trade marked his departure from the Christian community. He later took on two concubines and was survived by six sons. His eldest son, George Chan Su-kee, was the first Chinese to be married in a civil cere-mony at the Registry Office in Hong Kong.
In this group of Chinese who came under the influence of the missionaries, with the exception of Chan Tai-kwong, certain repeated patterns can be found. They all received an English language education at mission schools and their sons were usually educated abroad. Almost without exception, they served for a time as interpreters in the Hong Kong Government. Most of them were interested in journalism. The first four Chinese appointed to the Legislative Council were from this group, their service cover-ing the years 1882 to 1914. Either they were blood relations or they intermarried, so their family structure forms a complex of inter-relationships. Several of them served the Chinese nation in high posts of responsibility. They were the most significant of the seve-ral groups that provided a Chinese elite in Hong Kong before the turn of the century.
CHINESE CHRISTIANS
Conclusion
With the establishment of the Tung Wah Hospital, the Hong Kong Chinese had a structure within which they could handle the prob-lems that were peculiar to the Chinese community. They had also a representative elite leadership through which they could make representation to the Government and to whom the Government could turn for advice on problems affecting its relationship with the Chinese community. Although criticism arose concerning the operation of the hospital committee�Xit was charged with exercis-ing too much power and in effect forming an unofficial Chinese Legislative Council alongside the British administration�Xin general both parties, the Chinese community and the Govern-ment, found the hospital committee to be representative of res-ponsible leadership and hence a helpful bridge between the two groups. With the appointment of a Chinese member to the Legis-lative Council in 1880, Chinese leadership was incorporated as a more integral part of Government, and its members may be re-garded in many ways as the elite of the elite. But these devel-opments are beyond the time-limit set for this particular study.
THE Chinese elite of nineteenth-century Hong Kong consisted of interpenetrating advisory, financial, and professional groups. Members of this elite played an important role in bridging the so-cial and cultural gaps between the Chinese and the British in the colonial society. In some cases, they played a further important role in the modernization processes of China. Yet they were almost all of humble origin. In this chapter the progress to elite status is examined, and the achievements of a number of members of this elite are recorded.
Ho Ping-ti, in his study of social mobility in China,1 argues that the most important rung in the ladder to elite status was success in the Chinese civil service examinations. I will show that the first rung in nineteenth-century Hong Kong was education at an English-language school, and further, that people typically pro-gressed after their education, from government servant (usually as interpreter) to compradore, capitalist, and finally appointment to the Legislative Council.
Ruling, Financial, and Professional Groups and the Use of English
The advisory elite of Hong Kong might be narrowly defined as the official and non-official members of the Legislative and Executive Councils, that is to say, these Councils comprised both civil ser-vants and private persons. Competence in the English language has been a requirement for appointment for a Chinese. Until 1973, all business was conducted entirely in English. [As long as the pre-sent forms of government structure and government procedures prevail, moreover, it is difficult to conceive of a non-English speaker operating with any effectiveness as a member of the advi-sory elite.] In the nineteenth century, a few Chinese were members of boards created by the Government: the Sanitary Board, the Medical Board, the Board of Queen's College, and the Board of the Hong Kong Polytechnic Institute. These bodies also conducted their business in English. Other committees created for the man-agement of particular Chinese affairs always had a large number of English-speaking members. The most important was the District Watch Committee, which was reorganized in 1892 with the appointment of members of the recognized Chinese elite.
The Chinese financial elite was not restricted to English-speakers but the compradores of foreign firms constituted perhaps the most significant element in this group. Some knowledge of English was a requirement in this position, as the compradore was the middleman between the foreign firm which employed him and the Chinese staff of the firm, and between that firm and the Chinese merchants and traders with whom it transacted business. Many of the wealthiest of the compradores had received a formal English-language education.
The Chinese professional elite comprised those who had re-ceived professional training in Western law, medicine, or dentistry, and who practised in Hong Kong. In the nineteenth century, they amounted to only about two dozen individuals. All had re-ceived an English-language education.
A few Chinese who rose to elite status, especially in the pro-fessions, and some appointees to the Legislative Council, were second-generation Hong Kong-born individuals, or sons and rela-tives of English-educated Chinese who had acquired wealth; but, most Chinese rising to elite status had humble origins.
Knowledge and Acquisition of English
When and how did the Chinese learn their English in the nineteenth-century society of Hong Kong? If we classify 'pidgin' as English, the most common way the Chinese acquired English was by association. Those who had frequent contacts with the for-eigner as domestic servant, shopkeeper, or business man acquired this distinctive form of communication which had been developing through the years of Sino-Western contact. The phonetics of pid-gin were largely based on English, but the sentence structure was predominantly Chinese. It was far enough removed from both lan-guages to make it an unwieldy vehicle for conveying meanings beyond the mundane affairs of the household, shop, or business hong. But in these areas it served as a bridge of communication. Because neither side was sure of the precise meaning of the speaker, its use was open to a great deal of misunderstanding, and it
could become a cover to hide various kinds of subterfuge between Chinese and foreigners. Dr S. W. Williams suggests in The Chinese Commercial Guide that 'the only remedy for those who dislike it is to learn to speak Chinese better than the native speaks English'.2 But there have always been more Chinese making the effort to learn the language of the foreigner than the reverse.
A special group of English-speaking Chinese throughout the nineteenth century, however, consisted of growing numbers of Chinese who had lived abroad for some years in English-speaking countries and had acquired a competent knowledge of the lan-guage. Many of these had had some formal instruction during their overseas residence. In the first half of the nineteenth century, a Chinese was a curiosity in foreign ports. Often, he was taken under the patronage of some interested person who provided him with an opportunity for study. Usually, the motivation for this phi-lanthropic action was the hope that the young Chinese would be converted to Christianity, and that, on his return to his homeland, he would share his new faith with his countrymen. The records of the various missionary societies record the names of several of these young men. Whether the Chinese returning from overseas did so share his faith is one question. But evidence suggests that he sometimes shared his knowledge of English. In 1834, a young man who had studied at the Foreign Mission School at Cornwall, Con-necticut, USA, was reported to be teaching English to the servants in the foreign factories at Canton as an 'outside shopman not con-nected with the Hong merchants'.3 In 1852, two members of a class of nineteen who left the Presbyterian school for boys in Canton opened classes to teach English. Perhaps it was this type of class that Dr Williams talks about as being attended by Chinese seeking employment in European establishments:
Before they consider themselves qualified to act as servants, they receive what in their opinion is a tolerable English education, which consists in committing to memory a number of words and phrases from Chinese and English vocabularies written in the Chinese character, and with the Eng-lish phrase constructed according to the Chinese idiom. There are always a few men to be found in Canton who get their living by thus teaching English to lads in the shops about the foreign houses and ships.4
Before the establishment of English-language schools for Chinese at Macau and Canton, several of the missionaries in these places, notably Dr Peter Parker and the Revd Elijah Bridgman, took under instruction small groups of Chinese boys. However,
the great bulk of the Chinese who learned formal English in the nineteenth century were trained in schools where English was the principal means of instruction, that is to say, they acquired Western-type knowledge along with their English. Most of these schools were conducted by mission societies.
Most members of the English-speaking elite in Hong Kong re-ceived their education at one of the following schools:
(a)
The Morrison Education Society School, 1839-49: the prin-cipal project of the Morrison Education Society; founded at Canton in 1835 in memory of the Revd Robert Morrison; disbanded in 1869. The school opened at Macau in 1839 under the direction of the Revd Samuel R. Brown; moved to Hong Kong in 1842; closed in 1849.

(b)
The Anglo-Chinese College, 1819-56: students accepted at Malacca in 1819 by the Revd William Milne, agent of the London Missionary Society; moved to Hong Kong in 1843 by the Revd James Legge; disbanded in 1856.

(c)
The American Board School at Singapore, 1835-42.

(d)
The Revd Dr Andrew Happer's American Presbyterian Boarding School, 1844-56; opened in Macau in 1844; trans-ferred to Canton in 1847; disbanded in 1856.

(e)
St. Paul's College, 1851: Church of England Anglo-Chinese School organized by the Revd Vincent Stanton, Colonial Chaplain of Hong Kong, in 1848; building rebuilt and opened as St. Paul's College in 1851; closed in 1867; re-opened in 1872 for a short period; Chinese classes started in 1877; Anglo-Chinese School for Chinese Boys formed in 1884; closed in 1900; re-organized under Church Missionary Society in 1909.

(f)
Diocesan Native Female Training School, 1860: opened under the patronage of the wife of Bishop Smith. In 1866, name changed to Diocesan Female School; in 1869, re-organized as Diocesan Home and Orphanage. In 1892, girls transferred to Fairlea Girls' School. Diocesan Boys' School opened in 1869 as part of Diocesan Home and Orphanage. These schools were especially directed towards the education of Eurasian children.

(g)
St. Joseph's College, 1876: Roman Catholic English School on Staunton Street, 1860. A commercial course opened at St. Saviour's College in 1864, moved to Caine Road under the new name of St. Joseph's College in 1876.


(h)
American Board missionary, the Revd Charles Hager, opened an English evening school in 1883.

(i)
St. Andrew's School, 1855-62: a school supported by local private subscription. It was intended mostly for non-Chinese but a few Chinese were enrolled.

(j)
Hong Kong Government Central School, 1862: name changed to Victoria College in 1889; in 1894, name changed to Queen's College, its present name.


The Morrison Education Society School, the Anglo-Chinese College, and St. Paul's College educated most of the English-speaking elite who emerged in the 1860s and 1870s. In the last decades of the century, more of the elite were educated at Govern-ment Central School and the Diocesan Boys' School.
The various schools opened by the Chinese Government to meet the challenge presented by Western technology recruited scholars from Queen's College. Such schools as the Imperial Arsenal at Foochow, those established by Viceroy Li Hung-chang at Tientsin, and the Naval School of Western Studies at Wham-poa, Kwangtung, periodically had contingents of Hong Kong stu-dents. Most of the students who completed their course in the Chinese government schools entered the service of the Ch'ing Government. A few rose to high rank. The loss of bright students from Hong Kong to China aroused some local criticism. The Gov-ernor, Sir George Ferguson Bo wen, however, felt that the expen-diture of Hong Kong money on the education of boys who would later serve China was valid because it would provide a nucleus of Chinese officials favourable to British interests.5
The Careers of the English-educated Elite
Whether they received their English-language education in China, Hong Kong, or abroad, some moved about after their education. Some educated in Hong Kong went overseas as interpreters or business men. They usually returned to Hong Kong after a time with capital which they used in promoting and financing commer-cial and industrial enterprises conducted along Western lines. Others left to join the Chinese Imperial Customs service as Chinese clerks, usually remaining in this position until retirement or death.
Examples of positions obtained by school-leavers of English-language schools in Hong Kong are provided by reports written by their headmasters.6 In 1883, out of a class of forty boys who left St.
Joseph's College, twenty were in good positions: two in govern-ment offices; three with solicitors; four with bankers; and eleven in mercantile firms. In the same year, out of one hundred and eighty-one boys leaving Central School (Queen's College), thirty had found very good positions: three were in solicitors' offices; three in government service; two in the Chinese Imperial Customs; and twenty-two in important firms. Between the years 1884 and 1890, thirty-two from Central School had entered government service, one hundred and fifty went to European professional and mercan-tile firms, and eighty-nine were in the employ of the Chinese Gov-ernment in customs, medical, diplomatic, or telegraphic depart-ments.
Generally speaking, those students who were at the top of their classes in Hong Kong usually received appointments as govern-ment interpreters, clerks, writers, or shroffs (experts in the intrica-cies of Chinese currency who handled money transactions). Those appointed as interpreters were most likely to reach the highest sta-tus eventually. The fact that they were interpreters indicates that their English-speaking ability was probably the best among their classmates. Clerkship in a solicitor's office was an alternative route to the top. Other boys with family connections in the compradore departments of foreign firms began their climb as assistant compra-dores, thus bypassing the government servant rung of the ladder.
English-speaking Chinese as Interpreters
In the nineteenth century, one of the most difficult problems the colonial Government faced in its administration was the mainte-nance of law and order. Its population was composed initially of some of the more troublesome elements of southern China. The fact that the Chinese did not understand the nature of the British legal system and that the British did not understand fully the charac-ter and customs of the Chinese intensified the problem.
All legal matters were transacted in English. This necessitated the use of interpreters and translators both for the legal profession and for the courts. Thus, there was a demand for those who had a reasonable command of both the Chinese and the English lan-guages. Qualified persons were in relatively short supply. Lack of interpreters as well as inaccurate or poor interpretation impeded the proper operation of justice. The European population of Hong Kong was very conscious of the righteousness and dignity of 'Brit-ish justice' and was impatient with anything that tarnished its brightness. The problem of the recruitment of properly qualified interpreters and translators was often raised in the press, in the courts, and in the councils of Government.
In general, there were three groups available for recruitment: English-speakers who had learned Chinese; Macanese who had grown up speaking Portuguese, English, and Chinese; and Chinese who had learned English. It is, of course, the latter group that interests us, for the position of interpreter became the first step for the majority of the English-educated Chinese who rose to elite status. It also illustrates the important bridge function of English-speaking Chinese in Hong Kong.
The young Chinese boy in Hong Kong who left school, seeking a position, usually entered government service as an interpreter, clerk, or shroff. The position of interpreter was the best paid post available and only a relatively well-trained and competent English-speaker could successfully fill this position. Therefore, it was the young men who had completed their full term of study who be-came interpreters.
Until the 1860s, the Hong Kong Government was hard-pressed to secure sufficiently qualified personnel. Only a handful of young men really competent in English were produced by the English-language schools, and those who were employed in the Govern-ment did not stay for a long period. Their position was often not a happy one. They had acquired a degree of Western culture but were not accepted as social equals by their foreign co-workers. While their salary was greater than other Chinese employees in the Government, it was below that of the non-Chinese who were serv-ing as interpreters. Several of the interpreters became involved in the web of criminal activity which was an integral part of the struc-ture of Hong Kong. They were frequently exposed to the tempta-tion of bribes for giving false interpretation.
Throughout the nineteenth century, the Supreme Court used non-Chinese principally as interpreters. From its establishment in 1844 and up to 1860, it depended upon Daniel Richard Caldwell, a controversial figure who was in and out of government service several times during the period. Upon Caldwell's final dismissal, a certain Rafael Arcanjo do Rozario was transferred from the inter-preter's post in the Police Magistracy to that in the Supreme Court. He died in office in 1881 and James Dyer Ball, who had grown up in China as a son of a missionary, was appointed to the vacancy. He retired in 1908. By 1881, the need was felt for a permanent second interpreter and a Chinese, Li Hong-mi, was transferred from the Police Magistracy to this post. He retired in 1909.
Lee Kip-tye ($#iS ) is designated as an interpreter in the Su-preme Court on memorials he signed as a witness between 1849 and 1856. His name does not appear on the civil servant lists in the Hong Kong Blue Books, however, and he probably served as a part-time translator of the Fukien dialect. He was a native of Fu-kien engaged in a lucrative trade between Hong Kong and Tient-sin. He died in 1856 and his estate was administered by Lee Kip-bee (^ISM), presumably his brother.
For a period of less than two months in 1855, Wei Akwong (HSjfc), educated at the American Board school for Chinese at Singapore, filled the office of interpreter in the Supreme Court.7 He did not like the position and resigned. [In 1857, he became compradore of the Mercantile Bank of India, London and China. His son Wei Yuk (S35BE), or Ayuk, alias Wei Bo-shan (RE), was a member of the Legislative Council from 1896 to 1917.]
In 1856, during a spell when Daniel Richard Caldwell had re-signed from government service, Yung Wing (??IH) was appointed Supreme Court interpreter. He had been a student at the Morrison Education Society School and had been taken to America by the school's principal. He graduated eventually from Yale University and returned to China in 1854. Objection was raised to his holding the appointment of interpreter while being employed in a solici-tor's office at the same time. As a result, he offered his resignation soon after his appointment to the interpreter's post.
The Police Magistrate's Court also depended upon Caldwell for interpretation in the period between 1844 and his first resignation in 1847; but after that time it attempted to have a complement of Chinese to serve as interpreters. The first of these was Tong A-chick ( S 55fit), alias Tong Mow-chee (3ct�G), alias T'ang T-ing-chih (Sfil), appointed on 16 October 1847. He had been educated at the Morrison Education Society School. Before his appointment he had had a year and a half's experience as translator and inter-preter at the British Consulate in Shanghai. Although Caldwell rejoined government service in December 1847, A-chick was re-tained. Caldwell was competent only in oral Chinese and the Gov-ernment found Tong A-chick's ability to translate as well as to interpret too valuable to be dispensed with. He continued to serve until September 1851, when he was dismissed upon the recom-mendation of a committee of inquiry, which substantiated charges brought against him of having close connections with pirates. In spite of his dismissal and subsequent involvement in legal action over a prostitute, he had a successful career. He became a wealthy San Francisco merchant and was head of one of the district asso-ciations there. Later, after his return to China, he was compradore for Jardine, Matheson and Company at Tientsin and Shanghai.
The vacancy caused by Tong A-chick's dismissal was temporarily filled by a European, Horatio N. Lay, who was seconded from the consular service. But, in December 1851, A-chick's brother, Tong Aku (JS35E), alias Tong King-sing (^�G) , alias T'ang T'ing-shu (�G�Gfls), was appointed. He had been educated at the Morrison Education Society School, but upon its closure in 1849 was transferred to Dr Legge's Anglo-Chinese College. He resigned his position as interpreter in 1856. Charges were also brought against him but they were never substantiated. Like his brother, he became a member of the business elite. He was Shang-hai compradore of Jardine, Matheson and Company, and in 1873 was appointed General Manager of the China Merchants' Steam Navigation Company.8
With the opening of a court of small claims in 1850, an additional interpreter was needed. Wong Shing (MB), alias Wong Tat-koon (stfll), alias Wong Ping-po (^ffi), was appointed. He had been a classmate of the Tong brothers at the Morrison Education Society School, and with Yung Wing had been one of the students the principal, Samuel R. Brown, had taken for study in the United States. He did not remain long as interpreter for the Government, but soon assumed responsibility for the management of the print-ing establishment of the London Missionary Society in Hong Kong. In 1873, he accompanied the second group of boys sent by the Chinese Educational Mission for study in America, a project initiated at the suggestion of Yung Wing. Wong Shing served on the Legislative Council of Hong Kong from 1884 to 1890. He had several offers to serve the Chinese Government. His ability as a translator and writer received the notice of prominent Chinese government officials, who recommended him for an official appointment, but he refused, as he did not wish to become a gov-ernment official in the Ch'ing regime. He died in 1902.9
A permanent second interpreter was appointed to the Magis-tracy in 1852. The appointee was Ng Afat, who had been dis-
missed from the Presbyterian school conducted by the Revd Dr Andrew P. Happer at Canton. Influenced by the California gold-fever sweeping the Canton delta, and restive because of the bond his parents had signed ensuring that he would remain in the school until he had completed a five-year course, he had become 'insub-ordinate and quarrelsome' and was considered by the school prin-cipal as the leader of student discontent. In Hong Kong, he held the post of interpreter for three years. Circumstantial evidence points to his being the eldest brother of Ng Achoy ( ffi55^), alias Wu Ting-fang (@5?), the first Chinese member of the Hong Kong Legislative Council and a prominent figure in the Ch'ing and Republican Governments in China. Another brother, Ng Akwong (ffiSjfc), also a former student of the Canton Presbyterian Boys' School and later pupil with his younger brother Ng Achoy, at St. Paul's College, Hong Kong, was appointed interpreter in the Har-bour Master's Department in 1861. He remained there for three years and then became the editor of the Chinese edition of the Hongkong Daily Press.
Ng Achoy, after completing his studies at St. Paul's College in 1861, was appointed clerk and student interpreter in the Police Magistracy, holding the office with periodic promotions until 1879, when he left to study law in England.10 An even younger brother may have been Ng Afoo, who was appointed Clerk of the Court of Summary Jurisdiction in 1866 in place of Ng Achoy, who had been promoted to a higher position. Ng Afoo had been a student at St. Paul's College and for two years previous to his appointment in government service had been clerk to the solicitor, F.I. Hazeland. He is probably the same Ng Afoo who died in 1868 and is listed in the Hong Kong Probate Calendar.
The position of third Chinese interpreter to the Magistracy was created in 1855. Ng Mun-sow (ffiiH), alias Ng Asow (SiH), was appointed to the position. Ng was born in Malacca. Being an orphan, he had been befriended by the Revd Dr James Legge, who brought him to Hong Kong in 1843 when the Anglo-Chinese College was moved from Malacca. Asow, as he was usually known, was one of the three students Dr Legge took to Scotland in 1845. There he was baptized, along with his two companions, and the three became the nucleus of a theological class upon their re-turn to Hong Kong.
Asow was the most promising of Dr Legge's theological stu-dents, but he became involved in a case of lost or stolen bills of
exchange, and, though cleared of the charges, was suspended from the church fellowship. With this check to a career in the Church, he accepted the position of interpreter. Upon the resignation of Ng Afat as second interpreter, Ng Asow took over his post in 1857. However, the following year he was dismissed for his con-nection with certain criminal elements of Hong Kong, although he had supporters who maintained that the charges against him had been rigged. After his dismissal, he entered the Chinese maritime customs service in 1859.u He was stationed at Shanghai and re-mained in the service until his death in 1881.
In the same year that Ng Mun-sow, or Asow, was dismissed, his brother-in-law, Ho Alloy (M55SE), alias Ho Shan-chee (#JE), was appointed third interpreter. He had been a pupil in Dr Legge's Anglo-Chinese College, and, after leaving, taught English in the Tai Ping Shan and Lower Bazaar government Chinese schools be-fore his appointment as interpreter in 1857. In 1863, he was pro-moted to first Chinese interpreter. He resigned in 1866 and re-ceived an appointment to the staff of the Governor of Fukien, later becoming a member of the Chinese Legation in Washington.12
Fan Awing (v555H) was appointed third interpreter in 1859. He had first been appointed in 1857 as a messenger and process-server in the Magistracy. The following year, he was promoted to student interpreter. He left the service in 1863 to join the Chinese mari-time customs service. He was still in the service in 1880, then sta-tioned at Newchang. He had been a pupil of Dr Legge's school and was probably the son of Fan Kee-chung. According to a report written by Dr Legge in 1850,13 Fan Kee-chung had been a clerk in a government office for many years. In 1849, he brought his eleventh and twelfth sons to be enrolled in the Anglo-Chinese Col-lege. Dr Legge remarks that, in his old age, Fan Kee-chung was being supported by his children. I did not find his name in the civil servant lists in the Hong Kong Blue Books and it may be that he was employed in the office of the Chinese secretary to the British Superintendent of Trade in China.
Fan U-wai (mfcM), alias Fan Che, and Fan U-k'u (?5#cRJ) were also students at the Anglo-Chinese College. Both entered government service. On leaving school, Fan U-k'u became an English teacher in the government Chinese schools. After the consolidation of several of these establishments into the Hong Kong Government Central School, he was appointed assistant master in the school. Fan U-wai, who was a native of Tam Pui village, Nam Hoi District, Kwangtung, was sent to Melbourne, Australia, after his studies. On his return to Hong Kong, he was appointed Chinese clerk and interpreter in the Office of the Colo-nial Secretary in 1862. In 1867, he was transferred to the Registrar-General's Department. He served there until 1873. Fan U-wai in-vested in a number of farm lots in Kowloon which, upon his death in 1878, he left to his three sons. He appointed his brother, Fan U-hon (?5#c$i), his executor. Fan U-wai's youngest son, Fan Hok-to, was educated at Queen's College, leaving in 1891 to become clerk and interpreter in the Botanical and Afforestation Department. He died in 1895.
Another brother may have been Fan Ayow, who was appointed to the newly created office of shroff in the Harbour Master's De-partment in 1852. He is not listed in this position for the following year. He too had been a student at the Anglo-Chinese College.
In 1861, the Government had the opportunity of reinforcing its depleted interpreters' posts. Upon the handing back of the city of Canton to Chinese control, several of the interpreters in the ser-vice of the Allied Commission, which had been administering the city, became redundant. One of these was Bedell Lee Yune who was recommended as 'possessing great capacity as interpreter, which he exercised with zeal and good faith to his employers'.14 He had received the name Bedell upon his baptism at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, USA, on 15 June 1856, at the age of 22. His wife was baptized at Canton in 1861 by the Revd Dr
A.P. Happer. Bedell Lee Yune retired as first interpreter in the Magistracy in 1886 after twenty-six years of service. He died in 1889 at Canton. He was the first of the Chinese interpreters to give life-time service to the Government.
One other former interpreter to the Allied Commission appointed to the Magistracy at the same time as Bedell Lee Yune was Chan Achoy. He was regarded as having less ability than Bedell and left his position in 1865.
Tam Tin-tak (IH^H) became a student interpreter in August 1864. He was soon transferred to the Harbour Master's Office. He had been a student at St. Paul's College and was baptized with the name Thomas. In May 1866, he was married to Mary Cheung Mui (3I16).15 She was a student at the Diocesan Female Training School. In October of the same year, Tam Tin-tak was arrested and charged with the theft of two bills of exchange, which resulted in his dismissal as interpreter.
As far as the records indicate, none of the various members of the Fan family, Bedell Lee Yune, Chan Achoy, or Thomas Tam Tin-tak rose to prominent elite status. With the appointment of Chan Ayin (E�G 55 R ), alias Chan Oi-ting (ffi ^), as fourth interpreter in 1864, this pattern was broken. Like his St. Paul's College classmate, Ng Achoy, alias Wu Ting-fang, he served in the Ch'ing Government's Legation in America. Later, he was Director of the Chinese Engineering and Mining Company and the Shanghai-Nanking Railway Administration. While in the service of the Hong Kong government he received steady promotions and when he left in 1871 he was receiving a salary of �G175 per
16
annum.
Lee Lum-kwai was appointed third interpreter in October 1866. He left about 1868 and shortly afterwards became a clerk for John Joseph Francis, a solicitor. In August 1870, Mr Francis charged him with embezzlement. The newspaper account states that Lee Lum-kwai was from Hoifoong (Hai-feng, Hui-chow District, Kwangtung) and had the Ch'ing rank of blue button. He was found not guilty and entered a suit against his former employer for false imprisonment. In 1874, however, he was in more serious difficul-ties being charged with threatening to institute a false charge of murder before Chinese authorities against a wealthy Hong Kong merchant, Yeung Amow (81553c), alias Yeung Sing-kwong. The alleged murder was said to have taken place in Swatow, where the Yeung family had been agents for the tea trade of Jardine, Mathe-son and Company. Lee Lum-kwai threatened to use his connec-tions with Chinese authorities at Swatow against Amow and his brother, Apat, to bring about their arrest and conviction unless he was paid $5,000. Lum-kwai was convicted and sentenced to penal servitude for life. However, after ten years' imprisonment, he was released under the condition of banishment from the colony. He had put his abilities to good use while in prison by undertaking much of the translation and interpretation work of the gaol. He also rendered valuable help in the gaol hospital. Upon his release, he returned to China where he is said to have received an impor-tant appointment from the Chinese Government.17
In December 1866, Ng Ashing was appointed supernumerary Chinese interpreter to the Police Magistracy. He had entered gov-ernment service two years previously as interpreter on the convict hulk The Royal Saxon off Stonecutter's Island. After serving as supernumerary for six years he was promoted to interpreter but left government service soon afterwards. He then became a solici-tor's clerk in the office of H.L. Dennys.
At times, the offices of clerk and interpreter were combined. The first to hold this position was Choong Aon (M55^), ap-pointed in 1857. He had been a student at St. Paul's College. He was dismissed from government service in 1861. After his dis-missal, he entered the Chinese maritime customs service and he was still in that service in 1880.
In 1871, Chan Yau-lok, alias Chan Sz-wa, alias Chan Iu-ting, was appointed clerk and interpreter. He remained only about a year before becoming a solicitor's clerk in the office that was to be known as Sharp, Johnson and Stokes. He died in Hong Kong in 1906. For probate purposes, his estate was estimated at only $4,000, perhaps indicating that he was not among the financial elite. This estimate, however, may not have represented his true wealth.
Ho Atim (H55S), alias Ho Shan-tim (#S), the second son of the Revd Ho Fuk-tong, brother of Sir Ho Kai18 and brother-in-law of the Honorable Wu Ting-fang, was appointed third Chinese in-terpreter in 1873. He left the service in 1875, became a real estate broker, and was a large speculator in the 1881 land boom in Hong Kong. The collapse sent him into bankruptcy. At the time that he was speculating so heavily in land, he was also a leading promoter of a Hong Kong syndicate bidding for the Macau Government Wai Sing lottery monopoly.19 After his bankruptcy, he moved to Canton but later returned to Hong Kong, dying there in 1907 or 1908. Although he had been an important figure in Hong Kong financial circles in the 1880s, by his later years his importance had declined.
Upon the resignation of Ho Atim from the third interpreter's position, Li Hong-mi was appointed in 1874. He had had two years' previous service in the Government. In 1877, he was made third clerk in the Magistracy and in 1881 was promoted at a salary of $1,800 per annum to be assistant interpreter and translator of the Supreme Court. The newspaper notice of the appointment re-marks that 'he was the only one in government service who could accurately translate some of the inland dialects'.20
It is interesting to note that, upon the promotion of Li Hong-mi from second interpreter to third clerk, his replacement was a mem-ber of the Hong Kong Muslim community, Abdoola Fuckeera. Fuckeera left the service of the government in 1879 and became a clerk in the firm of Wing Kee.21 At the same time, a Chinese, George Ng Fook-shang, was the Hindustani interpreter in the Magistracy.
The ranks of interpreter in the Magistracy underwent numerous changes in the 1870s. In 1875, Ng Achoy, who had been first inter-preter since 1866, resigned to go to England to study for the Bar. Bedell Lee Yune was promoted from second to first interpreter, a position he held until his retirement in 1887. Li Hong-mi was moved from third to second interpreter, leaving the position of third interpreter vacant. The following year, Li Hong-mi was promoted to the position of third clerk and replaced by Abdoola Fuckeera, who only remained a year, so that in 1878 the posts of both second and third interpreter were vacant. Li Acheung was appointed second interpreter in April 1878, and Hung Kam-shing was appointed third interpreter in September 1879; thus, a full complement was provided for the interpretation staff after a three-year shortage.
Li Acheung was the son of Li Tsin-kau (^IEfS), alias Li Sik-sam (�G!:�G), the evangelist of the Basel Missionary Society's Hakka congregation at Sai Ying Pun. Li Acheung had been a student at Queen's College and received a prize for best scholar in 1871. After leaving school, he became a charge-room interpreter for the Police; in 1875, he was made a clerk in the Magistracy, and in 1878 was appointed second interpreter, a position he kept until 1882 when he was appointed Chinese interpreter to the kingdom of Hawaii. In Honolulu, he became one of the leaders of the Hawaiian Chinese community.
Hung Kam-shing, appointed third interpreter in 1879, had been, like Li Acheung, a pupil at Queen's College. He had enrolled in 1873 at the age of 14 and had completed his studies before receiv-ing his appointment in the Government. He replaced Li Acheung as second interpreter when Acheung left for Hawaii. On the retire-ment of Bedell Lee Yune in 1887, he became first interpreter. In 1892, he resigned and was replaced by Hung Kam-ning, presum-ably his brother. Both Kam-shing and Kam-ning were Eurasians and the family later used the surname Anderson. Records suggest that the sons of Hung Kam-shing were Charles Graham Overbeck Anderson, alias Hung Kwok-chi, born in 1890, died in 1935, stu-dent at Cambridge University and practitioner of law in Shanghai;