Preserving Hong Kong’s Industrial Heritage
Rediscover stories from Hong Kong’s industrial past, published on this date in previous years.
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 […]
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York Lo: Hong Kong Jade Industry and some of its pioneers The trading and manufacturing of jade is one of the oldest businesses in HK but the industry did not form its group until June 1965 when the US government imposed an embargo on HK jadeite goods and in response, J.D. McGregor, then Deputy Director of Commerce and Industry suggested […]
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On Monday October 21st 2013 an explosion destroyed the Ching Yuen Bean Curd factory in Sheung Tsuen village (near Shek Kong, NT). One worker was killed and four others injured when a cauldron blew up in the 80-square metre cubicle that housed the furnaces. The factory contained two stoves, one using diesel, the other burning wood, and it was the […]
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IDJ has sent a fairly detailed account of The Hongkong Electric Tramway which appears in a book published in 1908 linked below. This includes details of: – the construction of the Tramway, the consulting engineers being Alfred Dickinson & Co of Birmingham, UK, and the contractors Dick, Kerr & Co of London – the track dimensions and length, along with […]
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York Lo: Ip Chung-sang (葉中生) – leading designer and interior decorator for Chinese restaurants in HK and beyond in the 1960s and 1970s Left: Picture of Ip Chung-sang and article about his work on the Metropole restaurant in 1970 (WKYP, 1970-7-19); Right: Ip Chung-sang in the early 1950s from an article about his work on the Golden City restaurant (WKYP, […]
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David Bellis, Mike T, Hugh Farmer and Elizabeth Ride: In 19 Queries & Answers: Amakusa Marine Products Industrial Company, 1942, HF wrote, “By December 1942 around 18,000 Hong Kong Chinese fishermen were reported to be receiving instructions from the Amakusa Marine Products Industrial Company.” (Snow) I said I could find nothing out about this company which if the above is […]
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York Lo: As well as Chan Kim Ming, I have also looked into Susan (Susie) Loo, the operator of Sky Hawk Cafe in Kweilin during WW2. According to Chinese sources, her original name was Chan Sue-chun and they listed her as married to a KMT military official with the last name Wei rather than Chan Kim-ming. She was subsequently executed on […]
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HF: The China Daily, HK Edition, of 1st September 2015 contained the first of a planned series of articles about what is seen as an “explosion of interest of material related to the city’s industrial past”. The article by Chitralekha Basu starts with mention of The Industrial History of Hong Kong website, “floated by a long-time HK-resident English gentleman”. Probably […]
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According to Claire Grey’s excellent family history website, linked below, W R Loxley and Company (China) Ltd was established in Hong Kong in 1872 and… See: Dearie:Russell Family History – WR Loxley & Company The aim of this site is to record all the information we have already discovered about Richard Dearie, his son John Russell and their descendants. Rod Sell’s website […]
» Read moreIn his introduction to the article 1871 Singapore – Hong Kong Cable on his website, History of the Atlantic Cable & Undersea Communications, linked below, Bill Burns writes:- The China Submarine Telegraph Company was set up by John Pender in 1869 to link Hong Kong into his growing network of cable companies. Telcon manufactured the cable and used CS Agnes, Kangaroo, Belgian and Minia to lay […]
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Mike T: Regarding the Wo Fat Hing Distillery I’m guessing the type of wine specifically made there was 玉冰燒酒 (Juk Bing Siu Zau) or 肉醪燒 (Juk Lou Siu), as they mention pork being placed in the wine as part of the process. Wikipedia says that it’s, “…a Cantonese rice liquor with over 100 years of history, made with steamed rice. After distillation, […]
» Read moreIn his introduction to the article 1871 Singapore – Hong Kong Cable on his website, History of the Atlantic Cable & Undersea Communications, linked below, Bill Burns writes:- The China Submarine Telegraph Company was set up by John Pender in 1869 to link Hong Kong into his growing network of cable companies. Telcon manufactured the cable and used CS Agnes, Kangaroo, Belgian and Minia to lay […]
» Read moreTHE HONGKONG PRINTING PRESS, PART II Pedro Xavier: A New Generation Emerges. On the death of his father in May 1909, six months before his twenty-third birthday, Pedro Xavier became president of the Hongkong Printing Press. In the year that followed, while settling the business affairs of the firm, which employed family members and local Chinese, as well as […]
» Read moreSee: Happy 97th birthday Stanley Ho: 5 things to know about the casino magnate SCMP 25th November 2018 Stanley Ho, patriarch of Asia’s largest casino empire and the ‘King of Gambling’ for more than half a century, dies at 98 SCMP 26th May 2020
» Read moreFormed: 28th January 1930 Dissolved: 9th November 1950 see: http://www.hkmemory.hk/collections/oral_history/All_Items_OH/oha_92/highlight/index.html#p64776 see: Barry Sturman em. He’s writing an article about the company to be published later in the year or next year and asks if I would like to post it on the website.
» Read moreThe business of night soil collection Moira Chan-Yeung, FHKCP, FRCPC (Internal Medicine) Honorary Clinical Professor, The University of Hong Kong; Emeritus Professor of Medicine, University of British Columbia; https://www.hkmj.org/system/files/hkmj-v22n5-hkmms.pdf Member, Education and Research Committee, Hong Kong Museum of Medical Sciences Society Reminiscence: FIG 1. Receipt issued by the Hong Kong Kowloon Night Soil Collection Company (Authorised by the Hygiene Department, […]
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