HF: The “Two Girls” of Kwong Sang Hong Limited, founded in 1898 [?] by Mr. Fon Fook Tien, was the first cosmetics brand in Hong Kong. The brand started promoting its products using printed materials as early as the 1920s. Kwan Wai-nung, the renowned “Master of Calendar Posters”, was commissioned to draw calendar posters which were well received by the customers […]
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This is an advertisement of Continental Rubber Factory Ltd. published in the Pictorial Record of the 7th Exhibition of Chinese Products, promoting the products of the company and the its exhibition booth in the venue. This factory was established in 1938, at Winslow Street, Hung Hom and a sale office on Des Voeux Road. The factory produced rubber shoes, sores, […]
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Hugh Farmer: The article, Needle Hill Tungsten Mine, says that, “The deposit was discovered in 1935 by a civil engineer, Mr G Hull, who was working on the construction of the Jubilee Reservoir (now known as Shing Mun)…Hull obtained a mining licence in the same year but the lease was subsequently transferred to Marsman Hong Kong China Ltd. Marsman undertook prospecting […]
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HF: The manufacturing of rubber products was one of Hong Kong’s six leading industries in the late 1950s. And part of that industry was the production of rubber footware. Even in the early 1950s there were over 60 factories producing such items employing over 8,000 people. This initial article brings together a few items we have gathered about the industry in […]
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Mike T: According to “The Fall of Hong Kong: Britain, China and the Japanese Occupation” by Philip Snow, South China Iron Works was owned by the Chinese Nationalist government (ie. Sun Yat-sen’s anti-communist Kuomintang) as of the 1940s. [This information provided by Mike was originally a comment he made below our article, The South China Iron Works – post WW2 producer of […]
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HF: Richard Charles Lee (b. 7th March 1905, d. 6th July 1983) was the son of Lee Hysan (1881-1928). The story of his life can be found in the book written by his daughter Vivienne Poy, Building Bridges: The Life & Times of Richard Charles Lee, linked below which as you will see can be read online. Lee had extensive […]
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Mike T: Courtesy of the South China Morning Post’s “Taking control” by Neil Gough, Sunday, 13 February, 2011: “In 1949, on the eve of the Korean war, Ho incorporated a firm in Hong Kong to oversee his various import and export trades, Agencia Comercial Progresso (ACP). In August 1959, the US Commerce Department banned Ho and ACP from dealing in American […]
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Contributions from:- HF Hugh Farmer JH James Hayes IDJ ER Elizabeth Ride Charcoal JH: Extracted from James’ article Charcoal Burning in Hong Kong which was included in the RASHKB Journal Volume 11, 1971. Not an obvious candidate as a utility but see the reference to North Point Power Plant. Electricity 1943 Aug “By August the coal stocks were exhausted. The power stations […]
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HF: Nam Jam Factory, a manufacturer of torches (not boiled fruit and sugar) was set up in Hong Kong in 1928 and subsequently opened a branch factory in Canton. First some background information about pre-WW2 industries extracted from the HK Memory Project – The Origins of the Hong Kong metal industry. “The metal industry of Hong Kong started budding in […]
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Stephen Davies: The rectangle marked ‘floating dock’ in the chart below, moored with six anchors (important to keep the beast firmly in position when moving ships in and out with the dock flooded down) is Admiralty Floating Dock (AFD) No.18. The chart was issued by the UK Hydrographic Office in their emergency issue of updated charts in September 1949. AFD No.18 was […]
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