History: Biography: Father of Hong Kong

 Source:

https://armedia.am/eng/news/97820/sir-khachik-paul-chater-father-of-hong-kong.html

Sir Khachik Paul Chater, Father of Hong Kong

• 09.08.2021, 13:03
•  World,  Armenia,  Diaspora,  No-politics

The most famous Armenian of all times who lived in China was Khachik Pogose Astwachatoor, known as Paul Chater. Ha worked as Senior Justice of the Peace in Hong Kong, was a member of the Governor’s executive and legislative councils, owner of many companies, as well Hong Kong General Governor first adviser for 40 years.

Khachik Astvatsaryan was born in Calcutta (India), on September 8, 1846,  into a large family of Armenian traders, in which there were 14 children. He was baptized in the Armenian church of Holy Nazareth. His father was a member of the Indian civil service, and his mother was a house wife busy with upbringing the 14 children. Life seemed to flow but at the age of seven Khachik lost his father, and 2 years after that his mother.  

The children were taken to orphanage. Paul gained entry into the La Martiniere College in Calcutta on a scholarship. At the age of 18 he moved to Hong Kong to earn money and bring his brothers and sisters together again. 

In the early days in Hong Kong, he was an assistant at the Bank of Hindustan, China and Japan. Later, with the aid of the Jewish Sassoon family, he set up business as an exchange broker, resigned from the bank, and traded gold bullion and land on his own account.

Due to his diligence, exceptional business skills Paul soon became very rich. An owner of major banks, land, fleet, he soon became one of the richest and most influential figures in Asia and Hong Kong. Due to him Hong Kong nowadays has its unique place in the world economy.

In 1886, he helped Patrick Manson establish the first Dairy Farm in Hong Kong (nowadays known as ”Dairy Farm International Holdings”). The same year he entered the Legislative Council. Through his connections he  acquired an old graveyard in Wan Chai, where he built one of the earliest power stations in the world in 1890. He supported the construction of Hong Kong university, many schools, hospitals, blocks of flats, as well as the Hong Kong Fleet.

In 1889, he established Hongkong Land with James Johnstone Keswick. Hong Kong Land commenced the land reclamation project under the Praya Reclamation Scheme, under which the sea shore was made into land at Victoria city and more than one thousand houses were built for thousands of people.  

In 1897 he was awarded Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George by the British government and in 1902 he was knighted and called Sir Paul Chater.  

“This young Armenian from Calcutta filled all of Hong Kong. He is everywhere, nothing is done without his knowledge and participation. He is the father of Hong Kong,” historical documents read.

Chater was enthusiastic in two sports: He played for the Hong Kong Cricket Club 1st XI, and was a thoroughbred horse racing enthusiast. He reportedly never missed the weekly races at the Happy Valley Racecourse in 60 years. In 1872 he set up the Chater Stable in Hong Kong that won many races at Happy Valley. In 1955 The Hong Kong Champions & Chater Cup, the Group One third leg of the Hong Kong Triple Crown, was named in his honour.

Chater was a major philanthropist to world wide Armenians. Throughout his life he donated huge amounts of money to Hong Kong, Calcutta, London, Paris and Beijing Armenian social, religious and educational causes. He also supported the Armenian churches in India, orphans with Armenia descent, built a home for the Armenian elderly in Calcutta, named The Sir Catchick Paul Chater Home. To help the Armenian Genocide survivors he founded “Armenian migrants’ charity foundation” in Britain.

Paul Chater Chater died in 1926 and was interred in the Hong Kong cemetery. Because of not having children a part of his estate went to the Armenian Church of the Holy Nazareth in Calcutta and other churches in south-east Asia, the remaining part went to the college where he studied.  As a response the college made a decision to accompany the morning hymn with such lines, “We are grateful to our benefactor, honorable Paul Chater,” recited in front of Chater’s picture. The Armenian church in Calcutta named the auxiliary building at the church after “Sir Paul Chater”.

Nowadays there are a number of buildings, streets, parks, metro stations after Chater’s name in Hong Kong.

Social Media Platforms - June 2021

  Instagram revealed how it decides what content, like posts and stories, to show you. One of the deciding factors is how often you interact with the person who posted. Here are the other three things Instagram uses to feed you content.

Platforms to keep an eye on

The challengers: These young multi-billion dollar platforms are nipping at the heels of social giants that grew up in the late 2000s and early 2010s.

Tiktok: China’s first globe-spanning social app has cemented its place alongside US-based competitors like Facebook and Twitter.  note: I personally haven't used it and I don't intend to use it.

Clubhouse: With just 10 million users, the year-old audio-only platform generated major buzz during the pandemic and has spawned copycats from almost every major social media player. (More on that below.)

Discord: After turning down an acquisition offer from Microsoft, the audio- and text-based chat platform is eyeing an IPO.

Experiments to watch: These nascent platforms are testing users’ appetite for new content formats that haven’t been packaged together in exactly the same way by the reigning social networks.

Houseparty: The video chat app allows users to spontaneously hop into calls with any of their friends who are online, or join any open group conversation in which they know at least one person. Yubo: This French social network aimed at teens combines elements of dating apps like Tinder with live streams of everyday life you might find on Twitch. Poparazzi: The photo sharing app doesn’t allow users to add pictures to their own profiles. Instead, users add to their friends’ profiles by uploading photos of them (acting as their paparazzi—get it?). Honk: In this live texting app, messages aren’t saved and friends see your messages in real time as you type them.

Brief history

2004: Mark Zuckerberg drops out of Harvard and launches Facebook.

2005: Two University of Virginia students launch Reddit with $100,000 from Y Combinator.

2006: Two ex-Google employees launch Twitter as a side project while building a podcasting tool.

2009: WhatsApp is founded. Facebook would later buy it and guide its growth to 2 billion users.

March 2010: Pinterest launches in an early beta mode.

Oct. 2010: Instagram is founded. Facebook would later buy it and guide its growth to 1 billion users.

2011: Snapchat is founded. Facebook would later make an unsuccessful attempt to buy it, followed by a more successful attempt to hamstring its growth by copying its “story” feature.

2012: Vine, the last major platform of the early social media era, is founded. Twitter would soon buy it and kill it.

Of the newer challengers mentioned above, Discord was founded first, in 2015. It wasn’t until 2018 that the app began seeing explosive growth—and, as with TikTok and Clubhouse, Discord was catapulted into further popularity during the pandemic in 2020.

Charting Facebook’s dominance

Facebook owns four of the world’s most popular social platforms, illustrating the extent to which the company was able to consolidate its power over social media over the past decade.

Quartz   There are a few possible factors that help explain the new faces in the field: Regulators spooked Facebook by stepping up antitrust enforcement. Wary of attracting negative attention, the social media giant has eased up on its usual practice of buying up potential competitors, giving them time to develop on their own. Users have embraced new content formats and no one platform can do everything well. Apps like TikTok and Clubhouse filled unserved niches (short video and live audio, respectively) that the major platforms left vacant. Incumbents lost users’ trust. Facebook and Twitter have borne the brunt of the blame since 2016 for amplifying misinformation, snooping on user data, and applying inconsistent moderation standards, leaving people more willing to try out a new option. The pandemic left people feeling bored, lonely, and eager to find new ways to connect via social media. Whatever the reason, we’re about to find out which theory is right. The challengers could continue to grow, carving out their own niches or even stealing market share for Facebook. Or the giants could win again. 23 June 2021: Google is facing another antitrust investigation by the EU. Officials are scrutinizing whether Google prioritized its own online ad business over competitors. More on the probe here.

Family history and memories in Armenian

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Armenian history - about Cappadocia or in Armenian: Gabatovgia

It amazes me travel related articles, perhaps in an effort to be politically correct, they would mention about a modern day touristic location and the "marvels" and "unusual habitat" they find, referring to them as: a "discovery". As it is in this case with Cappadocia. I had learned about it thru my Armenian history classes at Souren Khanamirian college in Beirut, Lebanon. The school incidentally was known prior to that as "Sourp Neshan". At the time I didn't show much interest to all those ancient amazing Armenian history, the constant invasions, about Urardu or Urartu, how to me it was interesting that during peaceful episodes, Armenians were always building, being creative. To me it was obvious I belonged to a creative nation. Every so often there was some sort of "invasion" and after a while those history lessons were becoming annoying. Here come the Mongols, Tartars, Seljuks, earthquakes, devastating and giving a very hard blow to the peaceful inhabitants.

This article started the curiosity to learn more than what was being presented at Travel and Leisure site: The article: There's an Entire Ancient City Hidden Underground in Turkey by By Jess McHugh on April 11, 2017. You may read it at:
http://www.travelandleisure.com/travel-tips/offbeat/secret-underground-city-turkey-derinkuyu

I decided to add to this page a more comprehensive and clearer knowledge, than the vague "travel" article. If you are as interested as I am, in having a complete picture of in this case "Cappadocia" you might like to continue reading the various articles that are on the internet, to make more educated, rather than superficial brief reference to that location.

1. First, I checked Widipedia. Here is the introduction:
"Cappadocia (/kæpəˈdoʊʃə/; also Capadocia; Turkish: Kapadokya, Greek: Καππαδοκία Kappadokía, from Ancient Greek: Καππαδοκία, from Old Persian: Katpatuka) is a historical region in Central Anatolia, largely in the Nevşehir, Kayseri, Kırşehir, Aksaray, and Niğde Provinces in Turkey.

According to Herodotus,[1] in the time of the Ionian Revolt (499 BC), the Cappadocians were reported as occupying a region from Mount Taurus to the vicinity of the Euxine (Black Sea). Cappadocia, in this sense, was bounded in the south by the chain of the Taurus Mountains that separate it from Cilicia, to the east by the upper Euphrates, to the north by Pontus, and to the west by Lycaonia and eastern Galatia.[2] ..."
To read the complete reference, please proceed to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cappadocia

2. Here is an authoritarian book "Armenian Kesaria/Kayseri and Cappadocia" published in 2013 and edited by Richard Hovannessian:
The review of the book: "...Quick Overview

From early antiquity, the Armenian people developed a rich and distinctive culture on the great Armenian highland plateau, extending from Asia Minor to the Caucasus. On that crossroad, they interacted on many levels with civilizations of the Orient and Occident. Immediately to the west of the Armenian highland and the Euphrates River lay Lesser Armenia with Sebastia at its center and Cappadocia with Mazaca, later known as Caesarea (Kesaria/Kayseri), at its center..."
To purchase the book and read the complete review, here is the link: http://www.mazdapublishers.com/book/armenian-kesaria-kayseri-and-cappadocia

3. They have more detailed information about the CAPPADOCIANS, ARMENIANS and GREEKS IN BYZANTINE EASTERN ASIA MINOR: AN ETHNOLINGUISTIC APPROACH
periklisdeligiannis.wordpress.com/2015/02/18/cappadocians-armenians-and-greeks-in-byzantine-eastern-asia-minor-an-ethnolinguistic-approach/
It has a map and starts with this introduction, I'm sure you would like to learn more: "...Map of Byzantine Asia Minor in 780 AD, with the classic regions in black letters. These regions must not be confused with the Byzantine themata (provinces) in red letters (map source: wikipedia)
.
By Periklis Deligiannis
.

In the 4th century BC, before the conquests of Alexander the Great, Asia Minor (or Anatolia) was a multiracial area inhabited by several peoples with different ethno-linguistic origins. The Lydians, Carians, Lycians and the natives of Pamphylia and Cilicia were of Luwian origins. The Lycaonians, the Pisidians and the Phrygians belonged to the Phrygian group of peoples. The regions of Ionia, Aeolis, Doris, Troas and the coasts of Pamphylia and Cilicia had Greek population (descended from the Mycenaean and Archaic Greek colonization and the Hellenization of the natives). The Mysians and Doliones were Proto-Thracian populations, while the neighboring Bithynians were a Thracian proper tribe. The Cappadocians of Cappadocia proper and the Western Pontos (see below) were speaking several “hybrid” Phrygian, Iranian, Luwian, Hurri-Urartian and Palaeo-Caucasian dialects like the neighboring Armenians did, but the mixed Irano-Phrygian ethnic character with a lead of the Phrygian element, tended to prevail in both mentioned peoples...."

4. This blogger represents Cappadocia -- Cities with Armenian Roots
With the introduction about their trip:
"...We began our trip to Western Armenia by arriving in the city of Kayseri at 8:50 a.m. We were met by our guide for the next two weeks - Marineh, and driver - Vartan. They drove for 2 days from Armenia to meet us. Loading our luggage and tired bodies into a comfortable 15 passenger van (no spare room for another body, by the way), we started our tour by driving around the city of Kayseri. Kayseri (historical Caeserea) had a significant population of Armenians before 1915, although most evidence of their existence has been eliminated by present day Turks..."
To read the complete article check out Adi's place at: http://www.adikrik.com/2009/06/cappadocia-cities-with-armenian-roots.html

5. Henzel, Judy from Clemson University, in "A Comparison and Contrast of the History of Christianity as it Developed in Cappadocia and Armenia during the First Five Centuries AD" (2007). All Theses. 255.
http://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_theses/255

I will continue to update this page soon

Family legacies and obituaries

This year, starting with January 2nd to this day, namely April 27, 2017 I cannot remember a time in my life hearing of so many deaths!! A week or day doesn't pass by we are alerted of a death among relatives, former UN colleagues, friends, neighbors and our community.

I decided today to keep dedicate this page to people that I have known either as an aquaintance or close friends, community figures and neighbors.

Today was Hrag Vartanian's father's obituary in Toronto Star. Hrag's family is from the ancesterial home in Aintab, Turkey and as the fate of the indigineous people of Asia Turkey they were uprooted as well. I had to read about his father and I learned so much. It was interesting to find out he started with photography, passport photos and editing photos as well! However, life took different turns. Sharing here with you the obituary of Samuel Vartanian:

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/thestar/obituary.aspx?n=samuel-vartanian&pid=185219300

Writing your memoire? Here is your discount coupon code is: STMMMS56691

Let's start writing our memories.

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Documenting my family's history - Part I

I have been documenting various family, friends, work and events over many years. I am so happy that our paper photo collection as well as the VHS tapes are all on my external hard drive now, thanks to http://www.BaysideDigital.com

I owned my very first camera on my life-changing trip to the USA from war torn Beirut. The date was, February 12, 1976. I was flyer to NYC via Pan American Airlines (PanAm). The very first purchase I did on that flight was buying an instamatic camera. Who remembers the instamatic cameras? I am not sure what happened to it. I haven't come across that pocket camera over these 40 years yet. Most probably on my first trip to visit my family, I might have given to my siblings.

When I worked at the United Nations, the very first club I joined was the "Camera Club", which later on changed it's name. Then, that club was vibrant and friendly. Real professionals guiding and teaching. As well as we went on several trips. So I bought my very first professional camera, a FUJICA. Graduated from the instamatic to this manual camera.

Now that all my photos are digitized, the challenge is how to sort and weed them out. I started the process of going thru boxes and envelopes of photos documenting various moments captured over the years. We had 12 shoe boxes full of photos, in addition to two xerox full of photos I found in our storage! Also one xerox box full of VHS tapes!

Getting them digitized was the fastest and easiest part. Weeding them and eliminating all that space they occupy is the hardest and very time consuming. You look at the photos, they evoke emotions and revive memories. Some still so sweet, others remind of the change of heart of some people, you study their expressions and analyze, comparing the past with the present. Disappointments and illusions. However, the best part is, while weeding, I started making piles and keeping those that are dear to my heart. Those moments that still give so much joy to me. Others I kept to remind of some particular moment in time, which is there not for joy, but to remind of some realities and hurts. After all they were part of my life narrative.

There is the weeding of paper copies. Followed by going thru the digital files. Yesterday I spent over three hours just going thru and picking the best of the digitized photos. I plan on writing a book and adding those photos, as part of the narrative.

I will keep you posted of my progress.

I would love to hear from you about your experience: are your photos and videos digitized yet? If they are, how did you go about weeding and keeping only the ones you care about?

“This was such a fantastic discovery for me and the first I knew that I had Armenian ancestors in my family” - Hetq - News, Articles, Investigations

“This was such a fantastic discovery for me and the first I knew that I had Armenian ancestors in my family” - Hetq - News, Articles, Investigations

Scanning preserving photos family history and digitization blog

Scanning preserving photos family history and digitization blog