Makers of Rolling Shutters: Sam Yick, Cheung Hing, Choi Hung and Others
York Lo: Makers of Rolling Shutters: Sam Yick, Cheung Hing, Choi Hung and Others
Rolling shutters have been a prominent feature of stores in Hong Kong and below are the profiles of several firms who had been players in the industry before the 1980s:
Sam Yick Iron Works (三益鐵工廠)
Article about Sam Yick owner Chow Moon heading to Taiwan and Southeast Asia to survey the metal industries in 1966 (WKYP, 1966-10-9)
Founded in 1938, Sam Yick Iron Works was a manufacturer of rolling shutters, iron gates, iron fences, steel window frames, brass equipment and all kinds of steel works. (XianggangNianjian, 1966)
In the 1950s, the firm was operating out of 103 Reclamation Street (100 Years of the HK Construction Industry, 1958) but by the 1960s and 1970s it was operating out of 97 Butes Street in Kowloon. (Universal Chinese Overseas Directory, 1969; Xianggang Nianjian, 1973)
Industry peers of the HK & Kowloon Machinery Merchants Association congratulate Chow Moon (seated, third from the left) on his election to the board of the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals in 1966. (WKYP, 1966-4-10)
Sam Yick’s proprietor Chow Moon (周滿) was very involved in various trade guilds such as the HK & Kowloon Machinery Merchants Association(機器十三科商會) which he served as a board member of and was life president of the Metal Industries Association. In 1971, he was a member of the Industrial Training Advisory Committee sponsored by the HK government.
Outside of business, Chow was active in community affairs, having served as director of the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals in 1966 and director of Pok Oi Hospital, the Chow Clansmen Association and the Kowloon Chamber of Commerce. His second son Chow Shu-sun (周樹燊) attended Pui Ching Middle School in HK and was a sales manager at Sam Yick when he married Wong Ngan-yiu in 1971. (KSDN, 1971-12-4) Also involved in the business was Chow Lock (周略), likely a brother of Chow Moon.
As a firm, Sam Yick Iron Works was incorporated in 1981 and dissolved in 1996. Sam Yick Rolling Doors (三益捲閘), which might be related to the firm, was incorporate in 1984 and dissolved in 2014.
Cheung Hing Ho Rolling Shutters (祥興號捲閘)
Founded in the late 1950s by Lai Choi (黎財), Cheung Hing Ho was allegedly one of the first local manufacturers of rolling shutters. It first operated out of 171 Woosung Street in Yau Ma Tei and in the early 1960s counted the palaces of Vietnam and Cambodia, the branches of United Chinese Bank, Canton Trust and Commercial Bank , Far East Bank and Bank of America, Odeon and Waldorf theaters, Kwong Wah Hospital and King of Kings restaurant as clients. (WKYP, 1963-12-29). The firm was incorporated in 2012.
Choi Hung Roller Gate & Blacksmith Factory (財雄捲閘鐵工廠)
Article about Choi Hung in 1983 with picture of Chow Choi (WKYP, 1983-7-5)
Choi Hung was founded in 1957 by Chow Choi (周財) and first operated out of Larch Street in Tai Kok Tsui. By the time the firm was incorporated in 1982, it was operating out of its own 4000 sq ft space at 4-12 Kom Tsun Street next to Castle Peak Road with a dozen machines and its fleet of construction vans. The firm by then specialized in automatic stainless steel and aluminum rolling shutters and Chow Choi was also the vice chairman of a Chinese restaurant and director of a property firm. Today, Choi Hung operates out of Kwai Chung and according to its Facebook page continues to make rolling shutters for many retail chains such as PCCW and Bonjour and bank branches such as Bank of China and is also a contractor for the HK Housing Society.
This article was first posted on 7th December 2020.
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- The Story of the South China Iron Works as told by Chang Don Chien 張敦潛
- Dr H P Wu – Managing Director / President – South China Iron Works
- South China Iron Works – company staff in the 1950/60s
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