HK: The first mode of transport for the public in Hong Kong was the Peak Tram, serving The Peak (at Victoria Gap), the Mid Levels and the city centre since 1888. The idea of constructing a railway between Hong Kong and the Mainland was first put forward as early as 1864 by a British railway engineer, MacDonald Stephenson, who had […]
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Tymon Mellor: In the summer of 1963, with severe water restrictions of only four hours every fourth day in urban Hong Kong, the Colonial Government was searching for new water supplies that could be expeditiously developed. A number of schemes had been explored and these were presented to the Executive Council in October, 1963. In addition to the Plover Cover […]
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James Chan: Hughie D, Veteran Member of derelictplaces.co.uk has posted a piece about this company on its website. This was posted in July 2015. Hughie says: “This place is a bit of a strange one. This old silk mill is in the middle of Tsuen Wan…and must represent very valuable real estate. I remember passing this place a number of […]
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HF: Hong Kong’s early colonial developmental history is intertwined with maritime trade. Dockyards and shipbuilding thus became one of the earliest industries of the Colony. After 1841, Hong Kong’s first dockyard was located in East Point, Causeway Bay. In 1857, the Scottish entrepreneur John Lamont built the Lamont Dock in Aberdeen. By 1963, a few British firms combined a handful […]
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HF: The Company in Hong Kong: “The Sperry Flour Company has been interested in the flour trade of the Colony for upwards of forty years—a period considerably longer than any other similar company—and during the whole of this time it has lost no opportunity of studying the requirements of Eastern buyers, with the object of pushing business throughout the […]
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York Lo: HK China Products and Cheung Wing Kee – Makers of Shrimp Noodles Earlier on the website, we covered several noodle manufacturers such as Hing Wah, Pak Kut, Tin Kee and Winner (maker of Doll instant noodles). Below are two other noodle manufacturers known for their shrimp noodles (蝦子麵), made from combining shrimp roe and flour. Hong Kong China […]
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HF with thanks to Mike T: The excellent website wrecksite lists 26 ships built at the HK & Whampoa Docks which were subsequently permanently disabled/sunk during World War 2. At the time of their demise these ships were Australian, British, Dutch, German, Japanese, Norwegian or Thai. The ships were lost because of:- “air-raid, foundered, gunfire-shelled, mined, ran aground (wrecked), scuttled […]
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York Lo: Teh Hu Steamship (德和輪船公司) Left: T.Y. Wu at an international shipping convention in Taipei in 1971 (National Repository of Cultural Heritage, Taiwan); Right: “New Teh Hu” on slip at the Taikoo Dockyard (presumably in the 1960s) Since 1949, Shanghainese shipowners had dominated the shipping industry in Hong Kong but while most are familiar with Y.K. Pao of Worldwide […]
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Tymon Mellor: On the 28th March, 1886, the first of many blasts was initiated at the Mui Wo silver mine. The owner, Mr Ho A Mei (see Part One of this article linked below) wanted to extract the galena ore to aid in the mineral processing of the richer ore from a Mainland mine of his. The mineral processing facility […]
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York Lo: Tung Mow Hides & Leather Factory(同茂皮廠) – pioneer of the HK leather industry Left: registration of the Elephant trademark by Tung Mow in 1933 (HK Government Reports); Right: Ho Chung-king speaking at the opening of the Tung Mow plant in Peng Chau in 1955 (WKYP, 1955-5-17) Founded in 1872, Tung Mow Hides & Leather Factory was a pioneer […]
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