Aloha Royale

Updated (partial) on October 17, 2012

King David Kalakaua (b.1836-d.1891), the 7th and last King of Hawaii (reigned 1874-1891), arrived Hong Kong on April 12, 1881 from Shanghai on steamship Thibet. Governor John Pope-Hennessy offered his twelve-oared barge to ferry the King to shore, and extended an invitation for a royal reception in the Government House in the name of Queen Victoria [1]. The usual salute of twenty-one guns were fired from the forts and seven warships anchored in the Victoria Harbor in the following morning. The nine-day visit was filled with receptions and banquets, including those given by Jardine Matheson Taipan, William Keswick, who was also Hawaiian Consul General in Hong Kong. A luncheon was given by property tycoon Paul Chater where the invited guests were the most prominent business personages in the colony.

King Kalakaua, in a straw hat, was seated in the center;
on his left, wearing an Astor top hat, was John Pope-Hennessy

Masonic Brotherhood

China Mail reported on April 14, 1881,

"Last night His Majesty the King Kalakaua, of Hawaii, visited the Victoria Lodge and was received with honors due to his exalted rank and high position in Masonry."

King Kalakaua was a 32nd Degree Mason in the Freemasonry, the title of a 32nd Degree Mason is "Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret", under the Scottish Rite Degrees system.

Kitty Pope-Hennessy

Zzz

At the last State banquet in Hong Kong, King Kalakaua had become very tired and his doze started to deepen. When asked by Hawaiian Attorney General William Armstrong to aid in preventing a loss of royal dignity, the Governor's wife - Catherine Pope-Hennessy, arranged for the military band in the balcony to play the music of "Hawai'i Pono'i" (the Hawaiian National Anthem). The King woke up and the banquet ended.
On April 21, 1881, the Royal group left Hong Kong on the steamship The Killarney for Bangkok. The King had a good impression of governor Pope-Hennessy and was also thankful for the latter's arrangement with the British government in providing assistance while en route his round-the-world trip [2]. A Grand Cross of Kalakaua was later conferred on Pope-Hennessy.

Grand Cross of Kalakaua

The purpose of King Kalakaua's around the world trip were to study the matter of immigration (the country was facing the calamitous decline of Hawaii's native population, who were being lost to disease) and to improve foreign relations. He also wanted to study how other rulers ruled. The ending of the American Civil War affected the sugar market favorably for Hawaii, and the King is looking for labor supplies for Hawaii's agricultural development, hopefully to replace some of the Chinese labor immigrants already living and working in the country. The Hawaiian government's view on Chinese labor immigrants was that 'Chinese did not bring their women and that it was dangerous to give them franchise because their numbers would be a threat to the Kingdom.' As a result of this trip, the Hawaii was successful in getting a constant stream of labor immigrants from Japan, starting with the first group (676 men, 159 women, and 108 children) that left for Hawaii on February 8, 1885. Although no details were given, it was also reported that William Keswick was able to obtain a good class of Chinese immigrants to be accompanied by wives and children.

Whilst in Shanghai and Tianjin, King Kalakaua was not received as a head of state, but despite the general lack of attention accorded the King, Li Hongzhang 李鴻章 did hold a banquet for him in Tianjin. The King had two purposes wanting to meet with Li: firstly, to stop further immigration of Chinese to Hawaii, and secondly to secure the right at anytime to restrict, return, or remove, the large influx of Chinese. According to later letters written by the King referring to the meeting with Li, he said, “On these two subjects our mission has been successful”.

King Kalakaua died in 1891, seven years later, in 1898, Hawaii was annexed by United States as a US Territory. The Kingdom became the fiftieth state of the American Union in 1959.

[1] The Hong Kong Government Gazette of April 16, 1881, published this announcement:

GOVERNMENT NOTIFICATION— No. 131.

His Majesty the King of HAWAII arrived in Hongkong on Tuesday evening, the 12th instant, and was welcome to the Colony by the Governor, in the name of Her Majesty Queen VICTORIA. His Majesty, the King KALAKAUA, was accompanied by His Excellency W. N. ARMSTRONG, Minister of State, and Colonel JUDD, Chamberlain.

By His Excellency's Command,
FREDERICK STEWART, Acting Colonial Secretary. Colonial Secretary's Office, Hongkong, 16th April, 1881.

[2] Honolulu (January 20, 1881), Sydney, San Franciso, Tokyo (March 4- ), Shanghai, Tianjin, Shanghai, Hong Kong (April 12- 21), Bangkok, Singapore, Penang, Calcutta, Suez, Cairo, Rome, London, Brussels, Vienna, Paris, Madrid, Lisbon, New York, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., California, Honolulu (October 29). Around the world in 282 days.

	The Monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaii (ca.1782-1895)
Kamehameha I	b.1758-d.1819; reigned ca.1782–1819; also known as Kamehameha the Great
Kamehameha II	born Kalaninui kua Liholiho i ke kapu `Iolani; b.1797-d.1824; reigned 1819-1824;
Kamehameha III	born Kauikeaouli; b.1813–d.854); reigned 1824-1854
Kamehameha IV	born Alexander `Iolani Liholiho Keawenui; b.1834-d.1863; reigned 1855-1863
Kamehameha V	born Lot Kapuaiwa; b.1830-d.1872); reigned 1863-1872
Lunalilo I	born William Charles Lunalilo; b.1835-d.1874; reigned 1873-1874
Kalakaua I	born David La'amea Kamanakapu'u Mahinulani Nalaiaehuokalani Lumialani Kalakaua; b.1836-d.1891; reigned 1874-1891; because he did not have any children, he was succeeded by his sister Lili'uokalani
Lili'uokalani	born Lydia Lili'u Loloku Walania Wewehi Kamaka'eha; b.1838-d.1917; the last monarch and only queen regnant of the Kingdom of Hawaii; the Queen was overthrown on Janury 17, 1893 by a group of Americans and Europeans self-styled as a Committee of Safety; Queen Lili'uokalani abdicated in 1895; 3 years later Hawaii became an incorporated territory of the United States

I have this “questionable” recollection of another royal visit to Hong Kong at a time when I was very small: Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia. He actually came to my alma mater, Pui Ching Middle School, and I was a part of the welcoming party, lining up at the steps to waive to the king – the first I have ever met. Why questionable? my bother and sister who went to the same school remember nothing of the sort. Am I imagining this? If so, why Selassie and why Ethiopia of all kings and kingdoms in the world? (10/7/2009)

I have checked and can confirmed that Selassie did in fact visit Hong Kong in 1970 before flying off to Osaka to open the Ethiopia Day of the 1970 World Exposition. Did I see him, I leave this to another day... (10/17/2012)

Junk Promotion

The three-masted, 800-ton, 160-ft long Chinese trading junk – Keying (耆英號) [1], set sail from Hong Kong on December 6, 1846. Her destination – London. Under the command of British captain Charles A. Kettett, and manned by a crew of 12 English and 30 Chinese, the 20-gun, teak-made junk sailed around the Cape Horn on March 6. Having paused at St Helena, April 17 to 23, they set sail for England but were blown off course and ended up visiting New York and Boston first. Since finally arriving in London on March 27, 1848, 477 days after leaving Hong Kong , the Keying had been moored in the Thames at Blackwall, where it rapidly became established as one of the most popular visitor attractions in London. Some illustrious visitors toured the junk including the Duke of Wellington and Charles Dickens, and several of the young Chinese crew visited Queen Victoria at Buckingham Palace. The Illustrated London News had included the arrival of Keying in London as part of the “Events of this year in the Illustrated London News”. The Keying was eventually taken up to Liverpool where she was scrapped and her timbers used in building Mersey ferry boats.

Keying had been purchased in August 1846 in secrecy by Douglas Lapraik, who braved a Chinese law prohibiting the sale of Chinese ships to foreigners. Hoping to use the vessel as a floating exhibition in London, with a view to attracting trade and tourists to Hong Kong, Lapraik and his associates in this maverick promotion invested a sum of $75,000 in the junk.

[1] The Junk was named Keying most probably for the purpose to mock a high ranking Qing official of the same name. Aisin-gioro Keying (耆英) (1787-1858), or Qiying in Mandarin Chinese, was a clansman of Manchu Plain Blue Banner and a member of the Qing imperial family. Keying was best remembered as the negotiator and signatory of the Treaty of Nanking (with Britain), the Treaty of Whampoa (with France), the Treaty of Wanghia (With USA) and the Treaty of Canton (with Sweden-Norway)pursuant to the Frist Opium War. Whilst negotiating with representatives of Britain and France in Tianjin in 1858 for a treaty to end the Second Opium War, Keying left the negotiations after being humiliated by the British interpretors who sought to expose his duplicity by producing documents the British had captured in Guangzhou, in which Keying expressed his contempt for the British. Keying was later arrested for having left his post in contravention of imperial order. He was sentenced to death but was allowed to kill himself because of his royal stature.

[2] Charles Dickens, who is not very fond of Chinese 'things', had this to say about Keying:

Compared with the "stupendous" naval anchors displayed in the outer part of the Great Exhibition, the Chinese junk seemed to Dickens a "ridiculous abortion": more like "a China pen-tray" than "a ship of any kind". The Keying was nothing but a "floating toyshop", the risible invention of a stagnant country where "the best that seamanship can do for a ship is to paint two immense eyes on her bows, in order that she may see her way... and to hang out bits of red rag in stormy weather to mollify the wrath of the ocean." Here, as Dickens had concluded, was "the doctrine of finality beautifully worked out, and shut up in a corner of a dock near the Whitebait-house at Blackwall, for the edification of men. Thousands of years have passed away, since the first Chinese junk was constructed on this model; and the last Chinese junk that was ever launched was none the better for that waste and desert of time."

First Woman Police Sub-Inspector

1949, Kimmy Koh (高建美) was recruited in 1949 as the first Women Sub-Inspector in the Police Force.

Kai Tak Airport

Kai Tak Airport 1925-1998, a Montage





Namesake of Kai Tak Airport
The airport was named after two personages - Ho Kai (何啟) and Au Tak (區德) who together with several other prominent businessmen in Hong Kong formed the Kai Tak Investment Company in 1922 for the purpose to reclaim land in Kowloon for development. Part of the land was acquired by the government for use as an airfield after the business plan failed.

Caption: Ho Kai - left