Hugh Farmer: Stone is the only commodity in which Hong Kong is still self-sufficient, and quarrying was a major early industry. The granite extracted from the quarries in East Kowloon, Stonecutter’s Island, Quarry Bay and from the Kowloon hills were used throughout the territory and shipped to Canton for building purposes. The Roman Catholic Cathedral in Guangzhou was constructed in the […]
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Hugh Farmer: Kwik Djoen Eng was apparently also known as Chun Yang, the shortened form of Guo Chun Yang, and somewhat confusingly, for non-Chinese readers, Kwok Chun Yeung. Many thanks to Thomas Ngan for confirming that Kwik Djoen Eng and Kwok Chun Yeung are the same person. Thomas suggests this array of names is likely due to the romanisation of the same Chinese […]
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Our Group started in November 2012 with the website following in October 2013. We currently have over 1,500 articles posted all of which are shown in the Index. Contributions have come from an estimated 450 people ranging from a single line comment to a full length article. Plus those who help the group in other ways as shown in the […]
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To follow the history of the Kwan family is to trace a complete history of Hong Kong graphic design. In 1845 the ‘China Trade’ artist Kwan Chuk Lam, known to the West as ‘Lamqua’ settled in Hong Kong. He was the only known pupil of the English painter G. Chinnery, and had exhibited paintings at the Royal Academy in the […]
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Two versions of the wrecking of the SS Hong Moh which sailed from Hong Kong in March 1921 First version SS Hong Moh was a passenger ship that was wrecked on the White Rocks off Lamock Island, Swatow, on 3 March 1921 with the loss of about 900 lives. City of Calcutta The ship was built by Charles Connell & Company of Scotstoun, and was launched on […]
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Hugh Farmer with thanks to IDJ for notifying me about the initial account: The idea of connecting Hong Kong and China with a railway was first proposed to prominent Hong Kong businessmen in March 1864 by a British railway engineer, Sir Rowland MacDonald Stephenson (1808-1895), who had considerable experience of developing railways in India. The minutes of the committee of […]
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Elizabeth Ride: The following reports concern Kai Tak aerodrome in BAAG Intelligence Summaries. I do not guarantee that I have been able to find every single mention, and I advise anyone interested to have a look at the collected Intelligence reports in the Hong Kong Heritage Project (see below). I have added some bombing reports to this article. I would […]
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Hugh Farmer with thanks to IDJ and Tymon Mellor for information and images. These come from The Engineer, 28th April 1911:- “The Beacon Hill Tunnel – Kowloon Canton Railway. Beacon Hill, about 1500ft in height, is part of a range of hills dividing Kowloon from the rest of the mainland. A tunnel through this hill was deemed necessary in connection with […]
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IDJ adds further details about the tunnel from 1911 and that excellent publication The Engineer The image shown is of the Old Beacon Hill Tunnel, South Portal, 1910 This article was first posted on 11th July 2014. Related Indhhk articles: Beacon Hill Tunnel, KCR, longest tunnel in China 1910
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HF: I am very happy to offer a little publicity to Lindsay Varty and the recent publication of her book, Sunset Survivors: Meet the people keeping Hong Kong’s traditional industries alive. This has been receiving excellent reviews and I understand from Lindsay that the first print has already sold out. Lindsay first contacted me in March wondering if she could […]
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