York Lo: From Sony to American Standard: the story of Chung Yuen Electrical and Acme Sanitary Ware Left: Chiu Oi-wah delivering speech as vice chairman of Radio Association of HK in 1959 (Ta Kung Pao, 1959-7-12); Right: The opening reception of Fook Yuen’s new offices in Central in 1975. Left to right: Peter Chiu, Chiu Oi-wah, Shigeo Maruyama (MD of […]
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York Lo: Murjani – the Ups and Downs of a HK Garment Dynasty The history of the HK garment industry would not be complete without the profile of the Murjanis. Starting with a single shop in 1930, Bhagwandas Kewalram Murjani (B.K. Murjani) started one of the first and largest HK garment exporters to the US market in the 1950s. The family […]
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York Lo: Hop Yuen Construction (合源建築): A Century of Building in HK Left: Details of Hop Yuen with picture of founder TseIu-wah from the HKBCA directory in 1957 (HKBCA yearbook, 1957); right: Hop Yuen building on Ship Street While many construction companies covered earlier in the group have faded into history, Hop Yuen Construction is still going strong after over […]
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York Lo: Kapok(紅棉)and Golden Gate (金門) – HK Bakery Chains from the 50s and 60s and the family behind them Left: Kapok Bakery in Wanchai in the 1960s with its lighting decorations promoting its Mid-Autumn Festival mooncakes; Right: Golden Gate Bakery’s sign (blue and red) on Jordan Road circa 1968. Before the rise of the bakery chains such as Maxim’s, St […]
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York Lo: Shanghainese Builders in Hong Kong (Part Five) – Ngo Kee and Sung Foo Kee/Lidell Ngo Kee and Sung Foo Kee (now Sun Fook Kong) are two other leading construction firms which trace their roots back to pre-war Shanghai. Owned and managed respectively by the Loo and the Sung families for over half a century, the two firms were […]
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York Lo: Kwong Hing Tai (廣興泰) and Kwong Loong Tai (廣隆泰) Left: Advertisement of Kwong Hing Tai in 1941(陳大同編：《百年商業》，香港光明文化事業公司，1941) Right: Kwong Loong Tai Building in Cheung Sha Wan In June 2017, the 11 story Kwong Loong Tai Building at 1016-1018 Tai Nam Street in Cheung Sha Wan was put in the market with estimated value of over HK$1.2 billion thanks […]
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York Lo: Shanghainese Builders in HK (Part Seven) – John Lok, Yao Kee, Paul Lee, TK Shen, Wide Project and Wai Kee In the first six articles in this series, all the Shanghainese builders profiled were firms that were established in pre-war Shanghai and moved to HK before or after 1949. This article will profile seven Shanghainese builders who were […]
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York Lo: K. Jamson(占臣) – the global journey of a HK shoe and luggage company over the past nine decades Jamson store on the left on Johnston Road in Wanchai in 1955. Earlier in the group, we covered several famous localshoe companies from the 1950s and 1960s such as Po Shing, Sanda, Crane and Yau Sun. Founded in 1930, K. […]
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York Lo: Ng Wah (伍華, 1874-1950) – Leading Contractor, Developer of Pedder Building and Philanthropist Left: Ng Wah (HKBCA); Center: Pedder Building in Central; Right: Article about the induction of Ng Wah as head of Po Leung Kuk in 1934 (HK Daily Press, 1934-4-11) Ng Wah and his Projects A native of Toishan in Guangdong province but born in Hong […]
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York Lo: Lee On and Ying Kee – manufacturers of safes and steel furniture Local manufacturing of safes has existed since the early 1900s and within this specialized industry, Lee On and Ying Kee were two of the oldest and largest players (which also manufacture steel furniture in addition to safes) and both happen to be founded by Cantonese industrialists […]
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