New Peace County

Cover

Download PDF (4.6 MB)
 

Title Page, Copyright, Dedication

Download PDF (133.6 KB)
 

CONTENTS

Download PDF (105.0 KB)
pp. vii-

PREFACE

Download PDF (211.3 KB)
pp. ix-x

This book is adapted from the thesis, entitled The 1819 Edition of the Hsin-an Hsien-chih: A Critical Examination with Translation and Notes (subtitled Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories, 1644-1842), which I submitted to the University of Hong Kong for my M.A. degree in 1961. To my surprise and pleasure, a large number of scholars have consulted the thesis and referred to it...

INTRODUCTION

Download PDF (722.0 KB)
pp. 1-16

In 1841 the British Superintendent of Trade at Canton, Captain Charles Elliot, negotiated the cession of the island of Hong Kong as one of the terms of the Convention which was to end the Opium War between China and Britain. Lord Palmerston, the Foreign Secretary in London, greeted the news with disgust and the much-quoted description of the place as 'a barren island with...

Part One

Download PDF (59.2 KB)
pp. 17-

1. HISTORY

Download PDF (725.4 KB)
pp. 19-28

Chinese civilization developed in the basin of the Yellow River and spread only slowly to fill the enormous area of more than 3,600,000 square miles which is present-day China. Long before it reached as far south as Hong Kong the area was inhabited by other peoples. Present evidence points to coastal settlements dating back to about 3000 BC,¹ but archaeological research in Hong Kong has...

2. GEOGRAPHY [Includes Image Plates]

Download PDF (59.7 MB)
pp. 29-36

The county of Xin'an as it stood before the cession of territory to the British Crown had a total area of something under 600 square miles. To the west of it is the wide estuary of the Pearl River which brings down mud from Guangdong Province and by depositing it along the coast creates a good deal of flat plain; to its south and south-east is the sea, with a long fringe of islands off the coast; and...

3. ECONOMY

Download PDF (859.8 KB)
pp. 37-49

The economy of Xin'an was different from the simple agricultural economy of most of the other regions of the Chinese Empire. Farming, it is true, played the leading role in the county's economic life, and land-tax was the main source of official revenue as it was elsewhere; but the geographical conditions of Xin'an made possible the development of two other industries which were tapped by...

4. GOVERNMENT

Download PDF (1.1 MB)
pp. 50-66

The gazetteer is concerned above all, of course, with the administration of Xin'an County. The founding of the county, the centres of government, the ceremonies which aimed to strengthen and give colour to the authority of the officials, the qualifications and achievements of those officials and of those natives of the county who entered officialdom, the problems of administration...

Part Two

Download PDF (58.3 KB)
pp. 67-

TRANSLATED PASSAGES

Download PDF (2.7 MB)
pp. 69-125

The following fifty passages of translation from the 1819 gazetteer, vary in length: some are complete sections from the original, but many are excerpts only. Where brackets are used it indicates that the original text is in a smaller typeface. Page number references are to the 1974 Taiwan reprint edition...

APPENDIX

Download PDF (217.1 KB)
pp. 127-130

GLOSSARY OF HONG KONG PLACE NAMES

Download PDF (125.0 KB)
pp. 131-

NOTES

Download PDF (635.0 KB)
pp. 132-143

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Download PDF (423.0 KB)
pp. 144-148

INDEX

Download PDF (215.1 KB)
pp. 149-151

WEIGHTS AND MEASURES

Download PDF (166.3 KB)
pp. 152-