York Lo: Pushing Out Buttons– Beutron, Chung Wah, Hoover, Union and Wah Hing Since the 1950s, Hong Kong have been one of the leading producers of buttons in the world, made fromwide range of materials from metal, wood, leather, animal bone, ivory, porcelain, glass, genuine or synthetic jewels, ocean and freshwater pearl shells, plastics and polyester. Below are the profiles of […]
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York Lo: Tung Fong Hat Factory (東方帽廠) Left: Tung Fong Hat Factory’s booth at the 1957 HK Products Expo (WKYP, 1957-12-29); Right: Lee Kung-po delivering a report at a CMA board meeting in 1958 (WKYP, 1958-5-16) Founded in 1928, Tung Fong Hat Factory was one of the leading hat manufacturers in Hong Kong from the 1930s to the 1960s alongside […]
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York Lo: The Kwan Family – Theatre Owners and Movie Producers From the 1930s to the 1970s, the families of Kuan Ka-pak and his brother Kuan Ka-yue (the next generation used the English spelling of Kwan instead for their surname) played an important role in the HK movie industry as the owners/operators of at least a dozen movie theaters known […]
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York Lo: The Hui family of Chan Kwong Kee and New Universal Left: Firecrackers outside of the new Chan Kwong Kee store at 198 Queen’s Road Central in 1953 (David Hui; hkoldphoto); Right: Ad for New Universal in the 1970s (1976 HK Scouting Gazette) Earlier on the website we covered several jewelers who have been in business for three generations. […]
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York Lo: Fou Wah Weaving Mills, Kia Fung Textile and Wing Wah Textiles Left: Chao An-chung (left) and S.C. Lok (right) in 1963; Right: Chao An-chung at Kia Fung Textile in the early 1960s Fou Wah Weaving Mills, Kia Fung Textiles and Wing Wah Textiles are three textiles companies founded in HK after the War by three Shanghainese entrepreneurs who […]
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York Lo: Vincent and Wesintex: two local apparel brands from the 1960s to 1980s Vincent and Wesintex were two popular local apparel brands which were manufactured by Winner Co Ltd and Wu Wei Shing Knitting respectively with similar sounding Chinese names. Both brands have since faded into history. Winner (永南) and Vincent Shirt (永勝恤) Print ad for Vincent shirt in […]
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York Lo: Razzle Dazzle: International Jeweler, Developer and Hotelier Kevin Hsu (許開文) Left: Kevin Hsu (Business Times, 1984-2-16); Center: ad announcing the acquisition of the Cockpit Hotel in Singapore by Kevin Hotels with financing provided by DBS Bank in 1980 (Business Times, 1980-5-19); Right: Kevin Hsu in 2019 with painter Zhang Yuan (张媛)whom he bought a painting from. Kevin Hsu […]
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York Lo: Cardboard Millionaires: Pioneers of the HK Corrugated Paper Products Industry Group picture at the 1st anniversary of the HKCPMA in 1965. Left to right:supervisor Chen Kim-cheong, honorary president Fung Kam-chung, president Choi Chik-leung, vice president Wong Kam-yuen The corrugated paper products industry in HK was founded in the 1950s by a group of enterprising industrialists who saw an […]
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York Lo: The Cheung family and the New York/Great World chain of cinemas Left: article about William Cheung’s donating $1000 to scholarships with pictures of Cheung Kon-fong (top) and William Cheung (bottom). (WKYP, 1964-2-15); Right: New York Theatre in 1958 One of the major chains of movie theaters in HK during the 1950s and 1960s was the “New York/Great World” […]
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York Lo: Bargain Electrical Co (平霸電業) and System One (新一系電器) Bargain Electrical Co and System One were two leading electronics retailers in Hong Kong in the 1970s and 1980s respectively that have since faded into history. The former was best remembered for its low prices and catchy TV commercials while the latter was launched by the conglomerate First Pacific and […]
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