York Lo: Notable Players in the HK Wig Industry in the 1960s and 70s In the 1960s, the US wig market exploded and grew from less than US$10 million a year in 1960 to US$1 bllion within a decade, with over 40% of American women owning more than one wig and importing over 1 million wigs from Asia on a […]
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York Lo: Leader of the Battery Pack: Hing Wah and Five Rams Batteries Left: Five Rams batteries ad in 1955 (Source: IDJ); Right: Hing Wah’s HK plant in the 1950s (Source: HK Memory) Founded in Canton and expanded to Hong Kong in 1938, Hing Wah Battery Factory (興華電池廠) was one of the oldest and largest players in the batteries industry in […]
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York Lo: The Kings of Industries – the family behind Wearbest Garment in HK and Wha Mei Tobacco in old Shanghai As profiled in many other articles in this group, Shanghainese industrialists played a crucial role in the post-WWII industrialization in HK in fields ranging from textile, plastic, enamelware, construction and many others. In the field of garments, Sieh-Ting King […]
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York Lo: The Needle, the Bible and “Our People”: Chiuchow Christians and the Swatow Lace Industry in Hong Kong Swatow lace merchants on the board of HK Chiuchow Christian Association in 1936 – back row: Yadsun Cheng (Chin Chian & Sons; first from left), Ng Chung-wing (吳寵榮,Kowloon Lace; third from right); Henry Lin (HK & Shanghai Lace; second from […]
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York Lo: Notable Players in the history of the HK Glass & Mirror Industry The glass and mirror industry in Hong Kong has a long history tracing back to the 19th century but unlike its products, there is little transparency into the history of the industry and its key players as most of them were and remain very low key. […]
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York Lo: SMC, DEMC and TAT – Pioneers of the Hong Kong Electric Fan Industry Entrepreneurs from Hong Kong have long played an important role in the electric fan industry globally. The property and investments billionaire Joseph Lau made his first fortune selling ceiling fans to the US and the Middle East with his Union Ngok Kee and Evergo in the […]
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York Lo: Joe Law (1922-2015) – HK Plastic and Toy Industry Pioneer Ignatius Joseph Law Cho-Yiu (羅祖耀, 1922-2015), aka Joe Law, was one of the founding fathers of the plastic and toy industry in Hong Kong. His involvement in plastic spanned six decades in products ranging from plastic flowers and toys to Christmas novelties and L.E.D. lighting. Along the way, Law […]
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York Lo: Shanghainese Builders in HK (Part Six) – Ahong and Chinney Ahong and Chinney are two Shanghainese builders in Hong Kong who trace their roots back to pre-War Shanghai and are controlled by two families which share the same last name – Wong. Ahong followed the interesting path of moving first from Shanghai to British Malaya in the 1930s […]
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York Lo: Eternal Fortune and Fame – The 140 Year old Saga of Chinese Winemaker Wing Lee Wai (永利威) With an auspicious Chinese name which stands for “eternal fortune and fame”, the 140 year old Wing Lee Wai is one of the oldest businesses in Hong Kong, operating out of its base at 124 Wing Lok Street in Sheung Wan […]
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York Lo: From Chaoan to HK: Kai It Battery Factory (蓋一電池廠) Left: Kai It plant at 15 Mok Cheong Street before its re-modeling into Kai It Industrial Building. Right: Blue Dove batteries manufactured by Kai It Aside from Hing Wah, a major player in the battery industry from the 1940s to the 1980s was Kai It Battery Factory, which also operated […]
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