York Lo: Singnam Choy (蔡星南) – Founder of the HK Chinese Godown Association Left: Singnam Choy (right) with Lam Hau-tak (see Lam Yuen Fong article) and Chau Cham-kwong as heads of the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals in 1948 (WKYP, 1948- 6-19); Right: notice issued by The Ching Hua Co in 1947 to clarify that it had no relations with […]
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York Lo: The Rise and Fall of the HK Ivory Industry and some of its key players Catalog of Man Hing Ivory Factory (Memoires of a Travelholic, 2014) While many industries in Hong Kong went away due to rising production costs and soaring property values, ivory was one industry that was shut down by a worldwide ban enacted in 1989 […]
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York Lo: Tung Mow Hides & Leather Factory(同茂皮廠) – pioneer of the HK leather industry Left: registration of the Elephant trademark by Tung Mow in 1933 (HK Government Reports); Right: Ho Chung-king speaking at the opening of the Tung Mow plant in Peng Chau in 1955 (WKYP, 1955-5-17) Founded in 1872, Tung Mow Hides & Leather Factory was a pioneer […]
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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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