Preserving Hong Kong’s Industrial Heritage
Rediscover stories from Hong Kong’s industrial past, published on this date in previous years.
HF: The paint industry is capital and machinery intensive. To set up a paint factory a large amount of capital is needed for the purchase of land and building of the factory, buying machines and setting up of a laboratory, etc., thus in the course of the industry’s development there are only not more than ten paint plants in Hong […]
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York Lo: The King of Watchbands: Poon Yuen-sang (潘遠生) and Yuen Sang Hardware (遠生金屬) Poon Yuen-sang delivering a speech as chairman of the HK & Kowloon Watch and Clock Merchants Association in 1961. Left to right: Mrs. Gertrude Kwok (郭贊夫人), Poon Yuen-sang, Lau Kam-fat (劉錦發), Lun Tin-lok (倫天樂), Chan Peng-fei (陳鵬飛) (WKYP, 1961-9-10) In the 1950s and 1960s, the HK […]
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Tymon Mellor: For many people, construction of a railway is all about digging holes and pouring concrete as their focus is on the infrastructure and they forget about the railway elements of the project. Much of West Rail’s success was recognizing the need to develop the railway systems proposals in conjunction with the civil works, and then providing a coordinated […]
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IDJ has sent the following newspaper article which was published in the Hong Kong Sunday Herald in a 1930s long series entitled Hong Kong Personalities. HF: As you will read Lawrence Kadoorie was connected to a very large number of Hong Kong companies, including China Light and Power, Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels Ltd, Peak Tramways, the Hong Kong Engineering […]
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HF: Hong Kong has several locations where there are still clusters of small shipyards. Stonecutters Island, Ap Lei Chau and the north coast of Tsing Yi spring to mind. Another is Tam Kung Temple Road which lies between the Shau Kei Wan MTR station and the Hong Kong Museum of Coastal Defence. Its couple of hundred yards contains about dozen […]
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Robert Taylor was manager of the Green Island Cement Company from about the late 1920s until the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong and again for a short period after its liberation. He was born on 2nd June 1888 and died in January 1974 in his 86th year. Immediately prior to the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong he was a volunteer […]
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New information added by Nahaha Lau. Tymon Mellor: Looking at some old mapping of Tuen Mun I noted a ceramics factory in the area, see below: This looks quite a factory as the mapping indicates rails, so I suspect it is more likely to be a brick works that is mentioned in the early alignment studies (1905) for the KCRC: “There […]
» Read moreHF: This is one of the most early-built factory estates in Hong Kong. It was built between 1960 and 1965. From 1973 onwards it was managed by the Hong Kong Housing Authority.(1) Sources: The Hong Kong Memory Project
» Read moreContact the company? Founded in Hong Kong in 1874, Leigh & Orange (L&O) has continued to thrive as a significant force in the markets it serves for nearly a century and a half by providing its clients with a consistent focus on quality. With an unsurpassed depth of experience in a wide variety of building types, the firm prides itself […]
» Read moreHF: Kin Hip Metal and Plastic Factory manufactured metal molds. A key customer was Gold Coin Brand vacuum flask factories. Mrs. Sun took charge of the accounts while taking care of the children at the factory. In doing so, she used an abacus to calculate costs and prepare invoices. On one occasion she undercharged $600 when calculating product prices for […]
» Read moreHF: In the middle third of the 19th century, the clippers which carried cargoes of tea from China to Britain would compete in informal races to be the first ship in London with the new crop of each season. A painting of Ariel and Taeping. Source: wikipedia Tea was introduced from China to Europe in the 17th century, but, as […]
» Read moreHF: 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 moreHF: Mandarin Oriental is a member of the Jardine Matheson Group, a conglomerate with strong expertise and heritage in Hong Kong and Asia, which was founded in Canton in 1832 by Scottish traders William Jardine and James Matheson.
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