The Industrial History of Hong Kong Group
Preserving Hong Kong’s Industrial Heritage
Hugh Farmer: There are two North Point street connected with The ‘Sugar King’. Not a bad memorial for someone more closely associated with the island of Java. This information is taken from the fascinating book, Signs of a Colonial Era, Yanne A and Heller G, Hong Kong University Press, 2009, p 135 Related Indhhk articles: Kwik Djoen Eng – North Point […]
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HF: The following list shows the product, date when first manufactured in Hong Kong and the company involved. The website has information about only of two of these, Leung So Kee Umbrella Factory, and The Hong Kong Cotton- Spinning, Weaving and Dyeing Co. Ltd. Therefore further information about any of these companies would be welcomed. And confirmation that they were indeed […]
» Read moreHugh Farmer: Various sources mention the origin of the name of the once heavily industrialised Hong Kong area Kwun Tong. In particular it is suggested that the area was named after the Koon Fu salt yards (官富場), set up by the government to secure central administration of the salt trade and prevent unauthorised salt preparation and trading. And that there were […]
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Hugh Farmer: Elizabeth Ride has sent a British Army Aid Group (BAAG) report from 1st March 1945, An Outline of Conditions in Occupied Hong Kong. Here I am going to include the introduction to the report including the Table of Contents. I have already posted the section on Dockyards and will add further relevant areas in the future. If you are unfamiliar […]
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Hugh Farmer: Elizabeth Ride has sent a British Army Aid Group (BAAG) report from 1st March 1945, An Outline of Conditions in Occupied Hong Kong. One of the BAAG’s aims during WW2 was to gather military intelligence in Japanese occupied Hong Kong which included a great deal of what can loosely be called industrial information. Thus this report covers many […]
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Fung Chi Ming and Hugh Farmer: We have several articles and images about the production of incense in Hong Kong, and in what became the New Territories in pre-colonial times. It is often supposed that it was this industry that led to the name Hong Kong being used to indicate the whole of the colonial territory. I asked Fung Chi […]
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Hugh Farmer: The measurement of weight – picul, occurs in the Indhhk article, the Choy Fung Ginger Factory. I thought it would be worthwhile looking into the meaning of this term, its equivalent in more familiar weights and the origin of the word. A picul or tam is a traditional Asian unit of weight defined as a “shoulder-load” ie as much as […]
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Hugh Farmer: A 1908 Government report on Manufactures, Mines & Fisheries includes this detail: Un In was a big village of 250 people at the end of the 19th century. The map above (full background details of the map are provided in Tymon Mellor’s first article below) shows the locations of both the lead mine and Un-in village. The latter is […]
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Hugh Farmer: This article is a joint effort of Thomas Ngan, IDJ, Neil Morris and myself. Thomas has done a fantastic job in first translating the Chinese company names and products. And secondly by inserting arrows into the two photos below to link the advertising signs to the index. A lot of work Thomas, thanks very much. * The first […]
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This post follows from Queries & Answers 12 “The term Compradore.” James Chan has read that the comprador system originally came to prominence after the Canton system, in the late Ming dynasty, was abolished in 1842 and the compradores replaced the “hong” merchants as the main intermediaries between Chinese and Western traders. He is mystified. James wonders if anyone can explain the terms, Canton system, and hong merchant. And […]
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