HF: The Hongkong Canton & Macao Steamship Company was a British merchant shipping and maritime trading company founded in 1865 in the Crown Colony of Hong Kong. The Hongkong, Canton & Macao Steamship Company was founded on 20th October 1865 in Hong Kong by a collection of people tied to the shipping industry in order to support the market for […]
» Read more
HF: Our recently posted article, Wong Kwong-tin, manager of the Kai Tak Company, Managing Director of the Kai Tak Motor Bus Company, linked below, says “he is also pioneer Managing Director of the Kai Tak Motor Bus Company, which has been a most important factor in, and largely responsible for, the development of the Kowloon Peninsula.” Here are a few […]
» Read more
HF: Sir Catchick Paul Chater was a prominent British businessman of Armenian descent in colonial Hong Kong, whose family roots were in Calcutta, India. Chater was born Khachik Pogose Astwachatoorean in Calcutta, British India, one of thirteen offspring of Armenian parents, Miriam and Chater Paul Chater. His father was a member of the Indian Civil Service. Chater was orphaned at […]
» Read more
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 more
Elizabeth Ride: KWIZ [Kweilin Weekly Intelligence Summary] has the following reports of the building of wooden boats, and I wonder if some of these could refer to the suicide boats mentioned in the article linked below: KWIZ #66, 15.9.44 : Aberdeen Dock coolies “are being used to fell trees on the Peak for converting into charcoal, as well as for shipbuilding” […]
» Read more
HF: The following information has been extracted from the excellent 2015 book, Hong Kong Mining History, which is a mass of information about several mines and quarries: Ma On Shan Mine is situated on the southwestern slope of [the mountain] Ma On Shan, approximately 10 km from Shatin. The total ore reserve exceeds 7,000,000 tons, making it the biggest iron […]
» Read more
HF: The building that is now known as Western Market was originally the old Western Market (North Block), which was identified by Antiquities and Monuments Office (AMO) as one of the Declared Monuments in 1990. It is the oldest market building surviving in Hong Kong. Further information about the demolished South Block would be of great interest. As would images […]
» Read more
HF: From 1757 up to the outbreak of the Opium War, Guangzhou was China’s only trading port. While foreign merchants generally conducted their business in Guangzhou, their cargo ships were required by the Chinese authorities to berth in Huangpu (Whampoa) port for loading and unloading supplies, as well as paying duties. At that time permission had to be obtained from […]
» Read more
Antonia Cheung: My father Mr. Chang Don Chien was the chief engineer of the South China Iron Works from 1948 till 1968. A Biography of Mr. Chang Don-Chien by Antonia Cheung. Personal Information: Mr. Chang, Don-Chien 張敦潛 was born in 1918 in Shanghai. He studied Classical Chinese, Chinese calligraphy, arithmetic under a Chinese scholar before he was six. At seven, he entered […]
» Read more
Biography Of Alfred Herbert Rennie b. 17th November 1857 Ontario, Canada. d. 14th April 1908 Hong Kong. Here I am primarily concerned with the time Rennie spent in Hong Kong when he established the Kongkong Milling Company. For more information about the man a very useful source is: ‘The Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography’ listed below. For further information about […]
» Read more