Friday, 21 October 2016
Dominique Gandar' Le Canal impérial (1903)
Dominique Gandar' Le Canal impérial, étude historique et descriptive (Changhai: Impr. de la Mission Catholique, 1903).
Thursday, 20 October 2016
Military maps printed in Japan for Chinese revolutionaries
North-China Daily News, 25th April 1916,
p. 10.
'According to the “Yorodzu,” the Tokio Printing Company, of
Nihonbashi, Tokio, is engaged in printing 1,000 very elaborate maps for
military use to the order of the Chinese revolutionaries. It is said that a
large number of these maps have already been sent to Shanghai, Peking, and
Tientsin. The Tokio paper also learns that a large printing company has been
approached regarding the preparation of an enormous amount of military notes, while
a certain concern is already engaged in printing notes for hundreds of
thousands of yen to the order of a certain independent province in China.'
Sunday, 16 October 2016
Chinese in mid-nineteenth century Honolulu
"Previous to the year 1852," C. C. Bennett wrote, "there were but few Chinese on the islands, and they were of the better class, mostly merchants and shop-keepers. Since that period, however, the business of importing Chinese coolies as laborers and house servants has been carried on to some extent."
"According to the census of 1866," he added, "there were then 1,090 male and 110 female Chinese on the islands, or 1,200 in all."
Three years later in a report "by a Chinaman, who is a convert to Christianity, and who professes to have conversed with every one of his countrymen on the islands," it said that "there was 1,201 males, 76 females, and 40 children, or a total of 1,317: there was 121 married to Hawaiian women, and of the half Chinese there were 167."
C. C. Bennett, Honolulu Directory and Historical Sketch of the Sandwich Islands (Honolulu: C. C. Bennett, 1869), p. 60.
"According to the census of 1866," he added, "there were then 1,090 male and 110 female Chinese on the islands, or 1,200 in all."
Three years later in a report "by a Chinaman, who is a convert to Christianity, and who professes to have conversed with every one of his countrymen on the islands," it said that "there was 1,201 males, 76 females, and 40 children, or a total of 1,317: there was 121 married to Hawaiian women, and of the half Chinese there were 167."
C. C. Bennett, Honolulu Directory and Historical Sketch of the Sandwich Islands (Honolulu: C. C. Bennett, 1869), p. 60.
Tuesday, 11 October 2016
Wednesday, 5 October 2016
Good Friday for newspapers compositors in Shanghai
From North-China Daily News
18650414
In order to give our compositors a holiday on to-day (Good Friday) there will be no issue of the North-China Daily News to-morrow18700415
In order that our compositors may enjoy their usual holiday
on Good Friday, the Daily News will not be published on Saturday morning. It
will appear, as usual, on Monday.
18710407
In order that our compositors may have their usual holiday
on Good Friday, the Daily News will not be published on Saturday morning.
Friday, 23 September 2016
from Charles Kegan Paul
Charles Kegan Paul, one of the most famous Victorian publisher, commented on the book market in a lecture:
"Let it be carefully remembered that not every book which has a literary has also a commercial value; and that one is not necessarily in any degree the measure of the other. If a book is transcendently good on any subject, it will, no doubt, sooner or later, succeed; if it is bad, it will sometimes succeed because of its very badness - it may appeal to the vulgar, or the base, or the trivial. If the writer not be a Robertson as a preacher, or a Macaulay as a historian, a George Eliot as a novelist, or a Browning as a poet, if he be one of the average public who has written a fairly good book, success will depend on whether the book at the moment hits the fancy of the public or supplies a want just then felt: it rarely creates the demand." (my emphasis)
- From a lecture entitled "The Production and Life of Books" at the Albert Institute, Windsor, published in the Fortnightly Review, vol. 33, no. 196 (April 1, 1883), p. 487.
"Let it be carefully remembered that not every book which has a literary has also a commercial value; and that one is not necessarily in any degree the measure of the other. If a book is transcendently good on any subject, it will, no doubt, sooner or later, succeed; if it is bad, it will sometimes succeed because of its very badness - it may appeal to the vulgar, or the base, or the trivial. If the writer not be a Robertson as a preacher, or a Macaulay as a historian, a George Eliot as a novelist, or a Browning as a poet, if he be one of the average public who has written a fairly good book, success will depend on whether the book at the moment hits the fancy of the public or supplies a want just then felt: it rarely creates the demand." (my emphasis)
- From a lecture entitled "The Production and Life of Books" at the Albert Institute, Windsor, published in the Fortnightly Review, vol. 33, no. 196 (April 1, 1883), p. 487.
Monday, 29 August 2016
Tsang Fook Piano
Tsang
Fook Piano Co., 84a, Wanchai Road.
The artistic value of a piano is not
determined by the size of the factory in which it is made, nor the quantity of
its annual output; rather the contrary, for to impart to one of these
instruments that subtle musical personality which affects its value requires
the conscientious and affectionate interest of its makers.
Each instrument is composed of several hundred parts; many of them are exceedingly small, and yet each has an important place in its construction. If any one of these little items is not properly made and correctly fitted, the instrument will be lacking in responsiveness in action, or deficient in tone, or both.
Each instrument is composed of several hundred parts; many of them are exceedingly small, and yet each has an important place in its construction. If any one of these little items is not properly made and correctly fitted, the instrument will be lacking in responsiveness in action, or deficient in tone, or both.
No one in Hongkong
is better versed or more experienced in such considerations than Mr. Tsang
Fook, the senior partner of the business which he founded in 1915, under the
name of Tsang Fook Piano Co., at 94a, Wanchai Road.
Prior thereto Mr.
Tsang had spent ten years in the service of the Robinson Piano Co., and
thereafter some years were devoted by him to learning everything possible about
the piano trade in France, Germany, England and America; so that when he
returned to Hongkong in 1915 and launched out in operations for himself, he was certainly well qualified to succeed. That he was succeeded
is excellently demonstrated by the flourishing business which he has built up
in the manufacture of pianos, which for high quality and general adaptability to
the local climate are unsurpassed.
A comparison between them and many imported reveal Tsang’s wisdom in making his instruments absolutely proof against all deterioration, either by vermin or meteorological conditions. The frames are made of iron, the strings are plated and impervious to rust, and particular attention is devoted to the sounding board, which is formed of spruce.
The factory from which these really admirable pianos emanate is equipped with very ingenious and effective electrical machinery, most of it of Mr Tsang’s own invention; and all the workmen have been trained by him and his two brothers and partners, Messrs. Tsang Quai and Tsang Fong.
The firm’s output is about twenty-four pianos monthly, besides which they are successfully engaged in repairing piano of other makes and also in tuning; the number of clients who are down in their book for contracts by the year in the latter connection being nearly 600.
Source: Allister Macmillan, comp. and ed. Seaports of the Far East: historical and descriptive, commercial and industrial, facts, figures, & resources. London: W.H. & L. Collingridge, 1923, p. 409.
Below: Tsang Fook's advertisement in South China Morning Post on 2nd July 1915, p. 4.
A comparison between them and many imported reveal Tsang’s wisdom in making his instruments absolutely proof against all deterioration, either by vermin or meteorological conditions. The frames are made of iron, the strings are plated and impervious to rust, and particular attention is devoted to the sounding board, which is formed of spruce.
The factory from which these really admirable pianos emanate is equipped with very ingenious and effective electrical machinery, most of it of Mr Tsang’s own invention; and all the workmen have been trained by him and his two brothers and partners, Messrs. Tsang Quai and Tsang Fong.
The firm’s output is about twenty-four pianos monthly, besides which they are successfully engaged in repairing piano of other makes and also in tuning; the number of clients who are down in their book for contracts by the year in the latter connection being nearly 600.
Source: Allister Macmillan, comp. and ed. Seaports of the Far East: historical and descriptive, commercial and industrial, facts, figures, & resources. London: W.H. & L. Collingridge, 1923, p. 409.
Below: Tsang Fook's advertisement in South China Morning Post on 2nd July 1915, p. 4.
Friday, 26 August 2016
Wednesday, 24 August 2016
1 article, 38 authors
Trained as a historian, I was amused by this article in Journal of Nonverbal Behavior: Be Careful Where You Smile: Culture Shapes Judgments of Intelligence and Honesty of Smiling Individuals, which is about how culture shapes judgments of intelligence and honesty in 44 cultures across six continents.
Amazed not because of the arguments but the impressively long list of the research team, a total of 38 researchers. They are from Poland, Portugal, Canada, Hong Kong, Mexico, Brazil, Australia, India, China, Denmark, Greece, France, Korea, Egypt, Russia, Georgia, Albania, Hungary, Malaysia, Nigeria, Turkey, Zimbabwe, Argentina, Italy, Indonesia, UK, Colombia, Japan, Switzerland, USA, Pakistan, Taiwan, Austria, and the Philippines. It is a dream team!
Amazed not because of the arguments but the impressively long list of the research team, a total of 38 researchers. They are from Poland, Portugal, Canada, Hong Kong, Mexico, Brazil, Australia, India, China, Denmark, Greece, France, Korea, Egypt, Russia, Georgia, Albania, Hungary, Malaysia, Nigeria, Turkey, Zimbabwe, Argentina, Italy, Indonesia, UK, Colombia, Japan, Switzerland, USA, Pakistan, Taiwan, Austria, and the Philippines. It is a dream team!
Thursday, 18 August 2016
衝！衝！衝！
衝！衝！衝！
吾們是時代的急先鋒！
負起介紹文化底重任，
吾們應該向前衝！
衝！衝！衝！
衝過了崎嶇底山峯！
掃除了一切魔障！
一直向那光明大道前進！
衝！衝！衝！
我們負起了時代的警鐘！
喚起了許多迷朦的民眾！
大家聯合起來向前衝！
衝！衝！衝！
衝過了幾千年的暮氣！
立定了永不破的基礎！
吾們時代的急先鋒！
周福蓀：〈印刷頌〉，《藝文印刷月刊》，第2卷第1期（1939年7月），頁42。
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