York Lo has sent the following information about William MacGregor Smith. He was the Smith in Wahee, Smith & Co which in turn became The China Sugar Refinery. Smith is buried in HK cemetery – the tombstone states he was 76 (and was erected in 1907) and was from Scotland. On page 50 of Carl Smith’s book Chinese Christians there is […]
» Read more
York Lo: King of Plastic Beads and Buttons –Shen Bing-su (沈炳樞) of Yee Sing Industrial (義生實業) Yee Sing Plastic Factory’s ad from 1957 In the 1950s and 1960s, plastic manufacturers in HK had built up the HK plastic industry through a variety of products ranging from toys to artificial flowers to water buckets to mahjong tiles to sandals and even […]
» Read more
Sky Shuttle Helicopters Limited ( 空中快線直升機公司) is a helicopter service operator based in Macau. Formerly known as Helicopters Hong Kong Limited and before that as East Asia Helicopters, it operates helicopter routes between Macau, Hong Kong and Shenzhen. Sky Shuttle employs over 250 people. East Asia Airlines Limited was established in July 1988 and Macau-Hong Kong services commenced in November 1990 by using two Bell 222 helicopters with six […]
» Read more
IDJ has kindly sent the following newspaper article about the Hong Kong (or sometimes Hongkong) Rope Manufacturing Company planning a rope producing factory in Singapore. Thanks to SCT for proofreading the retyped article. That work is now going ahead with the establishment of a rope works in Singapore was disclosed by Mr G.E. Marden, MC, in his statement to shareholders […]
» Read more
Tymon Mellor: The development of the Shing Mun Valley for its water resources was first proposed back in 1924, and this led to the development of the Shing Mun reservoir. The 1924 study identified the opportunity to build a smaller reservoir down-stream from the main reservoir, but this was not progressed. It took the post-war water crisis for the Government […]
» Read more
York Lo: Tai On Machinery Works (泰安機器廠) Tai On Machinery Works ad in the 1958 HKBCA Yearbook showcasing its “Three Stars” brand construction machinery The construction boom in Hong Kong in the 1950s and 1960s created significant demand for construction machinery and while many of the equipment were imported by the likes of China Engineers, a number of domestic equipment manufacturers […]
» Read more
HF: Lime-making in Hong Kong has an extremely long history, at least 1,000 years, probably longer. This article by Wong Tak-yan appeared in the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch Journal of 1984. The article begins: And is divided into the following sections: *Uses of Lime *Raw Materials used in the making of lime *The process of making lime -burning […]
» Read more
IDJ has sent this article about a campaign by HK Traffic police to eliminate unlicensed rickshaws in 1947. This adds to our small collection of posted articles on the subjects of rickshaws and tricycles in Hong Kong. Source: The China Mail 4th April 1947. This article was first posted on 26th November 2020. Related Indhhk articles: The Hong Kong Rickshaw […]
» Read more
York Lo: R.P. de La Sala – the Global Shipping and Industrial Magnate from HK Left: R.P. de La Sala (Brazilian immigration record, 1958); Right: Manners’ “West Breeze” as the first British vessel passing through the Suez in 1957 (British Pathe) Robert Perez de La Sala (1908-1967, hereafter referred to as R.P., his Chinese obituary listed his Chinese name as 黎醒亞), […]
» Read more
HF: Sir Robert Ho Tung Bosman (22nd December 1862 – 26th April 1956), also known as Sir Robert Ho Tung, was a businessman and philanthropist in British Hong Kong. Known as ”the grand old man of Hong Kong” he was knighted in 1915. Ho Tung was Eurasian. His father, Charles Henry Maurice Bosman (1839-1892) was of Dutch Jewish ancestry, while […]
» Read more