HF: The Indo-China Steam Navigation Company, Limited (ICSNC) was established in 1873 as a subsidiary of Hong Kong based Jardine, Matheson & Co., one of the largest trading companies in the Far East at that time. Early history: With the advent of steam power, Jardines became concerned that it might lose its former advantage in operating fast clippers. As a […]
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HF: Fung Keong Rubber Manufactory Co. was founded in 1925 by a Nanyang Chinese Mr. Fung Keong to manufacture and sell rubber shoes and rubber products. I believe it was the oldest such factory in Hong Kong. This extract provides an insight into life as a female outworker with the company in the 1930s: Cheng Kwai Ying, female, spinster, age 22, outworker, […]
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HF: Sam Kwong Weaving Factory was founded in 1928. The factory was located at 374 Castle Peak Road in Cheung Sha Wan, and was of a moderately large scale with a gross floor area of some 16,000 sq. ft. (1) Elizabeth Ride has sent the following brief extract from BAAG report KWIZ#77 15.12.44. Mak Ho Yin has kindly attempted to translate the […]
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HF: “This industry [porcelain decoration] is quite important in Ping Chau, and there are five such factories there. The porcelain comes from Japan, and occasionally from Kiangsi. When the goods arrive, there are no designs on them, and the pieces are unpacked so that designs are painted on them by hand and later taken to the clints to seal them […]
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HF and IDJ: Up until 1926 steam power was used to drive the Peak Tram. In that year an electricity-powered haulage gear Ward Leonard system was installed incorporated within the double reversible funicular railway. Details of this system are provided below under the basic concept first link. I don’t fully understand this and wonder if anyone can provide an even simpler […]
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HF: The SCMP on 4th December 2013 published an article about the HK government scheme to revitalise old industrial buildings by focusing on the Luen Tai Industrial building at 72 Kwai Chong Road, Kwai Chung. “The Hong Kong government’s scheme to revitalise old industrial buildings has encouraged developer Sun Hung Kai Properties to invest in turning a 40-year-old industrial building into […]
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HF: If you have ever walked the Wilson Trail going up from Tai Po to Cloudy Hill you will have gone past a hundred metre long rectangular factory located at 155, Tai Po Tau village, Tai Po. I went there on 24th February 2015. As I entered the building Thomas Lam approached me and politely asked me to leave. However, he […]
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HF: New information in red Guy Breshears contacted me explaining he lives in Hong Kong and is working on a HK history project. He wondered if we had any information about Tai Shek-ha 大石下 Stone-quarry – A hamlet which is mentioned in a 1841 HK Census. The first set of census results were published in the 2nd issue of H.K. Govt. Gazette, […]
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HF: IDJ’ s article The Oyster Beds of the Wang Cha area is a reminder of how much areas of Hong Kong have changed since it was written in 1961. I am very familiar with Yuen Long, Tin Shui Wai, Lau Fau Shan having been on numerous walks in this area since the early 1990s. A comparison between the 1961 map […]
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HF: Hong Kong International Airport is an international airport on the island of Chek Lap Kok in western Hong Kong. The airport is alternatively called Chek Lap Kok airport to distinguish from its predessor, Kai Tak Airport. Opened in 1998, Hong Kong International Airport is the world’s busiest cargo gateway and one of the world’s busiest passenger airports. It is […]
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