HF: Manufacturing in Hong Kong consists of mainly light and labour intensive industries. Manufacturing started in the 19th century after the Taiping Rebellion and continues today, although it has largely been replaced by service industries, particularly those involving finance and real estate. As an entrepot, Hong Kong had limited manufacturing development until the Second World War when the development of […]
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Shiu Wing Steel Limited was briefly mentioned in Newsletter 8 as the only steel rolling mill currently in Hong Kong and located at Tap Shek Kok, Tuen Mun. Before relocating to its present position the company was in Junk Bay, present day Tseung Kwan O, from 1958 to 1991. IDJ provides interesting information about the Shiu Wing Steel Company’s time in Junk Bay. […]
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HF: Impressively named Carl Franz Adolph Otto Ingenohl was the owner of C. Ingenohl which operated cigar manufacturing companies in both the Philippines and Hong Kong under the trade name La Perla del Oriente. In Hong Kong Ingenohl ran the Orient Tobacco Manufactury Company which had a factory in Yau Ma Tei. I cannot find a image of Mr Ingenohl. Did […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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