IDJ sent in this advert and says ” I vaguely recall we had it in the first flat we had in HK.” HF: Below is a brief history of Rediffusion in Hong Kong. I would be grateful if anyone can supplement this with further information on the company and/or provide images of it. Radio Rediffusion was established in Hong Kong […]
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IDJ sent in photographs showing what he believes is the manager’s house at Green Island Cement Company from about 1900-1905. See article below. Jane Taylor continues: My grandfather, Robert Taylor appears to have started out in Macau in 1912 and moved to Hong Kong around 18 months later. He served as manager of Green Island Cement, I think from the […]
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The following timeline adds to the several articles on our website about the largest mine in Hong Kong’s history. Thanks to SCT for proofreading the retyped version. 1906 Hong Kong Iron Mining Company obtained the exploration license and mining license in Ma On Shan and started small-scale open pit mining. 1931 The New Territories Iron Mining Co. Ltd. received an […]
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Karl Spencer has contacted the Group. He says, “I am a collector of old HK uniform buttons and am looking for early buttons from the KCR (Kowloon-Canton Railway) and HK Tramways. I have attached photos of buttons I am trying to find. If anyone has any other interesting early buttons then I would be happy to hear from them.” Karl […]
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IDJ: The Bank of China Tower houses the headquarters of Bank of China Hong Kong. Designed by Ieoh Ming Pei, the 70-storey building’s height is 315 meters with two masts reaching 369 meters. Construction began in 1985 and was completed in 1989, with its official opening on 17 May 1990. It was the first building outside of North America to […]
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A 19th Century Company Town in North Point, Hong Kong By Jennifer Field Lang In 1881, Butterfield and Swire (the Far Eastern branch of the British trading firm John Swire and Sons) established the Taikoo Sugar Refinery in Hong Kong. John Swire (1793-1847) the son of a Halifax cloth merchant founded the general merchant trading company in 1816 in Liverpool, […]
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HF: “Henry B. Endicott joined Butterfield & Swire as Head Shipping Clerk in February 1873, after being headhunted from the US firm of Augustine Heard & Co. An American and a fluent Chinese speaker, he was known to have excellent connections throughout the chartering and shipping community, and John Samuel Swire believed he was the right man for what he […]
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Hong Kong’s neon-drenched streets were just one aspect of his home that Justin Wong missed while studying in Canada. A lover of cinema, he would become nostalgic for the city whose urban landscape has been beautifully evoked and captured in films such as Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner (1982) and Wong Kar-wai’s Chungking Express (1994)(1) As a fast-growing metropolis, Hong Kong always arouses people’s longing and […]
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IDJ has sent the following newspaper article which mentions the early history of the company. Watsons still exists today in Hong Kong, around 181 years since it started out. HF: I have retyped this to increase legibility and searches. MESSRS A.S. WATSON & COMPANY CELEBRATE 100th anniversary A brief outline of the early history of the Company, which celebrated its […]
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Connie Fong: “People in Hong Kong may come across traditional Chinese steelyards, a type of balance, in wet markets and Chinese medicine pharmacies. Yet only a few of them know the proper way to use one, though it was the optimal tool for measuring weight in the olden days. HF: I have tried to leave a comment at the end […]
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