Lucky Plastic Factory (好彩塑膠廠)
York Lo: Lucky Plastic Factory (好彩塑膠廠)
Article about Lucky Plastic Factory in 1959 (WKYP, 1959-12-31)
Earlier on the website, we covered plastic industry pioneers such as Chieng Han-chow of China Plastic and Wah Sun Hong, H.C. Ting of Kader Industrial and Shen Bing-su of Yee Sing Industrial who came from the North. Many pioneers of the HK plastic industry, however, came from Chiuchow, and the large number of Chiuchow participants in the industry resulted in the formation of a separate industry group – the Chiu Chau Plastic Manufacturing Association (潮僑塑膠廠商會) in 1960. While Li Ka-shing of Cheung Kong and Chu Chung-mo of Tainam were probably the most famous pioneers among the Chiuchow plastic manufacturers, Jok Yip-chuen (祝業進, hereafter refer to as “Y.C. Jok”) of Lucky Plastic Factory is another important Chiuchow pioneer of the HK plastic industry. His brother Jok Yip-wong also started Kiu Sing Plastic Factory is covered in a separate article in the group.
A native of Chao-an, Y.C. Jok founded Lucky Plastic Factory in 1952 (although as a firm it was not incorporated until 1961) to manufacture plastic toys and flowers. The original factory was located at 35 Kai Ming Street in To Kwa Wan and thanks to its exporting success, the firm had over 200 workers by 1959.
By 1963, Lucky’s main factory was located at 483C Castle Peak Road and a branch factory was added that year on the 8th floor of Cheung Wah Industrial Building on Sheung Heung Road in To Kwa Wan. The branch factory opening reception was attended by who’s who of the plastics industry at the time including folks mentioned earlier in the article, the Wong brothers of Evergreen Plastic, K.P. Thian, Haking Wong and Norman S.K. Young. In 1968, the Jok family established Lucky Plastic Factory Taiwan Ltd in Kaohsiung with 100 workers.
Y.C. Jok was supported in business by his 4 sons (in order of birth) – Jok Chi-chung (祝志忠), Jok Kai-lai (祝啓禮), Peter Chuk (祝啓雲, 1937—1979) and David K.C. Jok (祝啓政). C.C. Jok was the managing director of the firm and served on the board of the HK Plastic Manufacturers Association for over two decades. Kai-lai was a director of the firm and Peter Chuk sadly died at the age of 42 in 1979 and was survived by his wife Cheng Wai-king (who was also involved in the management of Lucky), 2 sons and 1 daughter. In more recent years, the firm was led by David Jok and his wife Lau Lee-chun (劉理真), who is the granddaughter of fellow Chiuchow industrialist Lau Moon-ling, the founder of the large denim manufacturer Chip Tak Weaving Factory (see article).
Wedding notice of C.C. Jok in 1961 (WKYP, 1961-11-13)
In 1964, the Jok family incorporated Man Nin Investment (萬年置業) to participate in real estate development. By 1973, the firm had 84000 sq ft of real estate in HK and Kowloon with annual rental income of HK$1.2 million and value of over HK$11 million. The family listed the firm on the Kowloon Stock Exchange in February 1973 during the peak of the stock market bubble with Y.C. Jok as chairman, his four sons and two Peter Chans – Kowloon Exchange’s founder and accountant Peter Chan Po-fun (陳普芬) and barrister and Urbco Councillor Peter Chan Chi-kwan (陳子鈞) – as directors. While the real estate operations of fellow Chiuchow plastic tycoon Li Ka-shing took off in the 1970s, Man Nin was relatively conservative and even by 1986 its net assets of 11 industrial properties and 1 commercial property was valued at HK$16.3 million, not much higher than the valuation during its IPO thirteen years before. In 1987, Brian Chang (章立人) of Promet Singapore acquired 46% of Man Nin for HK$19 million and in 1992, the firm was renamed after Burlingame International after it was acquired by the nightclub kings the Tang brothers.
Article about the listing of Man Nin Investment in 1973 (KSEN, 1973-2-20)
By 1993, Lucky was doing over HK$120 million in sales and its manufacturing was done out of Shenzhen under Lucky (Shenzhen) Plastic Factory. In HK, Lucky Plastic Factory was renamed Zaptoys International (好彩國際玩具) in 2006 and third-generation members such as J.H. Jok (祝宗康) and Jok John-kin (祝宗健) has been involved in the management of the family business.
C.C. Jok (first from the left) and C.H. Leung of Star Industrial (first from right) looked on while Shen Bing-su of Yee Sing Industrial (second from left) presented souvenir to Peter K.Y. Tsao, then Director of Industry at the 25th anniversary of HK Plastic Manufacturers Association in 1982 (WKYP, 1982-10-28)
Sources (other than those listed above):
WKYP, 1963-10-21
Taiwan Buyer’s Guide, 1972
TKP, 1987-8-1
FHKI Members Directory, 1993
This article was first posted on 10th May 2019.
Related Indhhk articles:
- Chieng Han-chow – Father of the Hong Kong Plastic Industry
- King of Plastic Beads and Buttons –Shen Bing-su (沈炳樞) of Yee Sing Industrial (義生實業)
- Evergreen Plastic & Industrial Co (異奇塑膠實業)
- Frank Gardner – his life, Bosco Radio and Plastic Manufacturing Corporation (PMC) – updated
- The Forgotten Jewish American Tycoons behind the HK Plastic Flowers Industry
- Joe Law (1922-2015) – HK Plastic and Toy Industry Pioneer
- Star Industrial Company Ltd – currently Hong Kong’s largest plastic manufacturer