From the Archive

Rediscover stories from Hong Kong’s industrial past, published on this date in previous years.

Friends & U’Land (友聯磁磚潔具): Leading Distributor of Sanitary Ware

Friends Detail Image 2 York Lo

York Lo: Friends & U’Land (友聯磁磚潔具): Leading Distributor of Sanitary Ware Left: Ad of Friends & U’Land in the 1950s (HKBCA Yearbook); right: an old ad of Friends Company listing all the products it carried (U’land website) Earlier on the website, we covered three leading pioneers in the HK plumbing industry. Another important player in the industry was Friends & […]

» Read more

Green Island Cement – manager late 1920s to 1949 indentified + photos of earlier manager’s house?

Hugh Farmer: Jane Taylor added this comment to the article, Green Island Cement Company – stunning photos, “ I can confirm that the building in the foreground of the photograph beneath the picture of the rotary kilns was, indeed, the manager’s house. My grandfather, Robert Taylor served as manager (I think from the late 1920s) until his retirement in 1949. Recently discovered […]

» Read more

Yew Sang Hong (耀生行) – distributor of electrical appliances and equipment

Yew Sang Hong Detail Image 2 York Lo

York Lo: Yew Sang Hong (耀生行) – distributor of electrical appliances and equipment Left: 1958 ad for Yew Sang Hong listing brands of refrigerators carried by the firm and promoting monthly installment plans for radios starting at $13 and refrigerators starting at $50. (WKYP, 1958-5-14); Right: 1966 ad for Yew Sang Hong with pictures of appliances carried by the firm […]

» Read more

The demise of Yen Chow Street Hawker Bazaar, Sham Shui Po

HF: “The bazaar was set up in the 1970s when the government moved hawkers off nearby streets to its site opposite Sham Shui Po Police Station. More than 100 textile vendors once crammed into the site, which resembles a small squatter village with its patchwork roof of corrugated metal, plastic sheets and tarpaulins. Although they are set out along a […]

» Read more

BAAG records of shipping in HK during 1944-45 – No.4 Muun

Elizabeth Ride has British Army Aid Group (BAAG) records of shipping movements for 1944-45 in Hong Kong during the Japanese occupation in World War Two. These provide information not only about the ships themselves but what cargo was being brought into and out of Hong Kong during the latter stages of WW2, passengers carried, and of godowns, docks etc that were […]

» Read more

Recently Published

Lei Yue Mun – Four Quarries

HF: Source no 86 http://www.aab.gov.hk/form/new_items_history.pdf [Bonnie Manson: Four years ago I made a journey to visit the grave of Ko Ming Fan who ran the Flat Hill Quarry.] Old Quarry Site Structures Lei Yue Mun, Kwun Tong, Kowloon Hong Kong has been well favoured with its building stones. The high quality, fine-grained granite was commonly used in construction by the time […]

» Read more

Q+A58 Information needed about a Leading Hong Kong Dressmaker, Lily Nègre, 1920s

Lily Negre Image B Of Lily Only

HF: Suzanne Clouthier has sent the following script and images highlighting Lily Nègre, who Suzanne’s grandfather described as having a reputation as a great seamstress in the Orient, possibly Hong Kong. Both Suzanne and I would welcome further information about Lily, and I would also like to learn more about others involved in the fashion industry in Hong Kong between […]

» Read more

Industrial Districts – North District

The main urban areas in this district are Sheung Shui and Fanling. It also includes the rural towns of Ping Che, Sha Tau Kok and Ta Kwu Ling, several villages and many islands, some inhabited including Ap Chau (Robinson Island) and Kat O Chau (Crooked Island). This article is the result of several people’s research  into industrial development, manufacturing, and other related topics in […]

» Read more