Airport Coaches – IDJ
IDJ, a long time contributor to this website, has sent the following collection of airport buses in Hong Kong.
» Read moreAuthor: Hugh Farmer
Hugh Farmer has lived in Hong Kong since 1989. He founded the Industrial History of Hong Kong Group in November 2012 to preserve and share information about the city's fast disappearing industrial heritage. This website was started in October 2013.
The Sperry Flour Company in Hong Kong
HF: The Company in Hong Kong: “The Sperry Flour Company has been interested in the flour trade of the Colony for upwards of forty years—a period considerably longer than any other similar company—and during the whole of this time it has lost no opportunity of studying the requirements of Eastern buyers, with the object of pushing business throughout the […]
» Read moreWilliam MacGregor Smith (Wahee, Smith & Co.) c1831- c1907
York Lo has sent the following information about William MacGregor Smith. He was the Smith in Wahee, Smith & Co which in turn became The China Sugar Refinery. Smith is buried in HK cemetery – the tombstone states he was 76 (and was erected in 1907) and was from Scotland. On page 50 of Carl Smith’s book Chinese Christians there is […]
» Read morePublic housing in Hong Kong
HF: Public housing in Hong Kong is a set of mass housing programmes through which the Government of Hong Kong provides affordable housing for lower income residents. It is a major component of housing in Hong Kong, with nearly half the population now residing in some form of public housing. The public housing policy dates to 1954, after a fire […]
» Read moreKau Shat Wan 狗虱灣 , Lantau Island – government explosives depot
The history of explosive storage in Hong Kong is an interesting one. The earliest location appears to have been Magazine Island, originally named One Tree Island, which lies just to the West of Aberdeen Harbour. From 1887 to 1908 it was leased for an annual rent of $100, by the Nobel Explosives Company, who built a magazine, a road and […]
» Read moreHari Harilela – Hong Kong, Indian businessman
HF: Hari Naroomal Harilela, was a Hong Kong Indian businessman, hotelier, philanthropist and the founder and chairman of the Harilela Group. The group runs businesses ranging from hotels and real estate investment to import and export trading. Harilela began a tailoring business in Hong Kong, opening a clothing and tailoring shop and then pioneered the idea of supplying custom made […]
» Read moreRobert Fan Wenzhao, architect, involved in Hong Kong industrial locations
Maureen Fan left a comment below Carles Brasó Broggi’s article Shanghai Spinners: Pioneers of Hong Kong’s Industrialisation. This reads in part: Thank you for your informative article. My grandfather Robert Fan Wenzhao (1893-1979) was the architect who designed the HK Spinners factory at Cheung Sha Wan, including the workers dormitories, a dining hall, a recreation area, basketball and volleyball courts and […]
» Read moreSouth Sea Textile Manufacturing Company Ltd
Double click to magnify twice. Thanks to Carles Brasó Broggi for this image of South Sea Textile Mills which comes from an undated Annual Report from the 1960s. The text reads “Covering an area of about 18 acres, the premises of The South Sea Textiles Mills are situated in the New Territories of the Kowloon Peninsula, about 9½ miles from the island […]
» Read moreThe history of the Hong Kong electronics industry
HK: The electronics industry was an emerging industry in Hong Kong in the 1960s. The first electronics factory was established in 1959. Europe and Japan were the world’s pioneers in electronic technology. In the 1970s, the low production costs in Asia attracted manufacture of developed countries to come and set up factories and thus electronics technology was passed to Hong […]
» Read moreThe history of Kai Tak Airport, Part One
HF: The story of Kai Tak started in 1912 when two businessman, Ho Kai and Au Tak, formed the Kai Tak Investment Company to reclaim land in Kowloon for development. The land was acquired by the government for use as a airfield after the business plan failed. In 1924, Harry Abbott opened the Abbott School of Aviation on that piece […]
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