From the Archive

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

Imperial Airways – including first scheduled flight into Hong Kong 1936

IDJ: Imperial Airways (Far East) Ltd Many people in Hong Kong have no concept of how airlines developed in the territory despite air services being their primary means of transport overseas. Airline services arrived late in Hong Kong relative to the rest of the world. Not until 1936, when the UK based Imperial Airways was slowly extending its routes from […]

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Big and Tall from Nanking Rd to Nathan Rd: Jefferson Young (楊撫生) of Crane (鶴鳴), Chancellor (大人), Da Da (大大) and the rise and fall of his retail empire  

Crane Stores Image 3 Detail York Lo.

York Lo: Big and Tall from Nanking Rd to Nathan Rd: Jefferson Young (楊撫生) of Crane (鶴鳴), Chancellor (大人), Da Da (大大) and the rise and fall of his retail empire   The 1986 closure and liquidation sale of Da Da department store (which means “Big Big” in Chinese), one of the most prominent casualties of the confidence crisis at […]

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Chan Chart-man (陳策文) – Developer and King of Pawnshops

Chan Chart Man Detail Image 3 York Lo

York Lo: Chan Chart-man (陳策文) – Developer and King of Pawnshops In March 2013, Oi Wah Pawnshop Credit Holdings became the first operator of pawnshops to go public in HK. Its founder Chan Chart-man had been involved in property development since the 1960s and although a relative newcomer in the centuries-old pawnshop industry, he and his family built the largest […]

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Sir James Nicholas Sutherland Matheson, co-founder of Jardine, Matheson & Company

James Matheson Image

HF: The following article about James Matheson was written by Alain Le Pichon and first published in the Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography, edited by May Holdsworth and Christopher Munn. The publisher, HK University Press, has kindly granted permission for it to be posted here, but retains copyright over this material from 2012. Thanks to SCT for proofreading the retyped […]

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Queries + Answers 9 to 16 revisited – further research needed

Our first Queries + Answers was posted on 7th February 2013. Here are the Q+A 9 to 16 with subsequently posted Indhhk Group articles below which are relevant to the subject but may not answer the original query. Q+A 9 Peninsula Spinners Ltd + Hong Kong Spinners Ltd Carles Brasó Broggi, is researching two related companies. Peninsula Spinners Ltd. was established in […]

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Hong Kong launch Kwong Mo and lighter Tin Ming – pirated 1922 en route to Samshui

Stephen Davies has sent a newspaper report from August 1922 featuring a launch and lighter of the Kung Lee (Kwong-li) Steamship Company (公利輪船有限公司). Stephen adds, The company was very short-lived. It was founded on 23 February 1922 and was dissolved four and a half years later on 22 October 1926. Kung Lee were operating in the relatively slow river freight business with small steam […]

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Recently Published

Waste paper collection in Hong Kong

A trade group of Hong Kong exporters has called off its stoppage of waste paper collection after just three days of industrial action.  Jacky Lau Yiu-shing, director of the Recycle Materials and Re-production Business General Association, said the group had made its point, and collections would gradually resume beginning on Monday. The stoppage, which began on Friday, was initially planned […]

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The Kowloon Canton Railway (British Section), Far Eastern Review article – use this version

Peter Crush has sent the following article extracted from The Far Eastern Review (date) Please note some of the images below are in a slightly different position than in the original article and of a different size. xxxx KOWLOON-CANTON RAILWAY (BRITISH SECTION) page 335 (Image 1 caption:) KOWLOON-CANTON RAILWAY – VIEW OF RECLAMATION FOR KOWLOON TERMINAL YARDS AND STATION The […]

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North Point power station

IDJ has kindly sent in this article about North Point power station. He notes: Images from various sources mostly unknown, from the internet. NORTH POINT POWER STATION Present day residents of Hong Kong can barely envisage that a major electricity generating power station once dominated the waterfront in the bustling North Point district of Hong Kong island. Today all people […]

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