A Survey of Source Materials in Hοng Kong Related to Late Ch’ing China

126 A S U R V E Y 0? SOURCE Ai-.TERIALS IN HOKG K O i - . ' G RELATED 20 lui T E Cd'I • 1 CIIIAA IJg Lun hgai-ha The Chinese University of Hong Kong This short paper aims to present some personal observations on source materials pertaining to Hong Kong which are also useful for the study of late Ch'ing China. My knowledge of such materials began with a project sponsored by the Harvard-Yenching Institute for the compilation of teaching materials on the history of Hong Kong. Many of these, though directly connected with Hong Kong, provide valuable information concerning China, and still have not been utilized. By briefly surveying these resources, I hope to draw the attention of scholars interested in the study of Modern China to this long neglected treasure. This survey does not pretend to be an exhaustive or a balanced report as at this stage I cannot claim to be familiar with all the materials mentioned. The following paper will be limited to describing some of the major categories of materials with examination into a few of the holdings now available in hong Kong. There are four major categories of the materials: (I) materials relating to the history of Hong Kong as part of China before the British occupation of the island of Hong An earlier version of this paper was presented to the International Symposium on Ch'ing Archival Collections, Taipei, 1973. The author wishes to thank members of the Symposium for their questions and suggestions. 127 Kong (18Z + 2), Kowloon Peninsula (i860) and the New Territories (1899); (II) archives and private holdings of Western mercantile houses in Hong Kong which were active in trade with China; (ill) Hong Kong government records and publications providing information relating to China; and (IV) early Hong Kong newspapers. The late Professor Lo Hsiang-lin of the University of Hong Kong made valuable pioneer studies on the history of Hong Kong before 1842 as part of the history of South China. Yet few were published and the picture of this southern part of China, in the 19th century in particular, 1 still remains very sketchy. One important reason may be because Professor Lo's study was based heavily on local gazetteers, and the latest edition of the district gazetteers, the Hsin-an hsien-chih % ^ icL>, was dated 1819 and 2 that of Kwangtung province, 1822. Since the late 1950's, Hong Kong has attracted a number of Western scholars interested in the study of the nature and organization of traditional society in southeastern China. Although they are mainly sociologists or anthropologists rather than historians,^ some of their works include historical background. * " Meanwhile, a number of senior British civil servants in Hong Kong, most of whom have served for a time as district officers of the New Territories Administration (the government department which administers the leased area), have made use 128 of their contact with the local people and access to local holdings to work on aspects of local history and life. Most of these works are published in the Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. The topics covered range from the archaeology of the region to more recent history like "Cheung Chau 1850-1898: Information 5 from Commemorative Tablets". When the British took possession of the New Territories in 1899, an investigation into the system of local administration, economic activities, and social organization of the region was conducted by James Lockhart,^ who produced what is known as the Lockhart's Report.^ This is a good starting point for first-hand information oil the region in English. During 1899-1905, the government conducted a land survey of the area. The findings of this survey together with other related documents are filed as "the Block Crown Leases" kept in the District Land Offices of the New Territories Administration. Other useful British records are the reports of the Land Court, the annual reports of the District Office, and a collection of Secretariat papers dealing with land and related matters for the first ten years of the New Territories lease. These documents throw light on the history and life of the area prior...