York Lo: Chinese Type Foundries – Universal, Wing Shing, Kin Kwok, Tak Hing and Others The 1950s to the 1980s was the golden age of Chinese newspapers and periodicals in Hong Kong and abroad and at its peak in the 1970s there were over 70 Chinese newspapers in HK alone. During this time and before the rise of offset and […]
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York Lo: Fung Cheong Shun (豐昌順) – from Dyeing Factory to King of School Uniforms Left: Billboard for Fung Cheong Shun fabric using Caledon dye next to A Fong Studio in the 1930s; Right: Fung Cheong Shun ad in 1967 (HK Pun U District Association) Fung Cheong Shun, the oldest and largest maker of school uniforms in Hong Kong with […]
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York Lo: Sun Hing Building (新興大廈) and its Developers Ad for Sun Hing Building in 1964 (WKYP, 1964-2-11) Designed by the famous architect Eric Cumine, the 29-story Sun Hing Building at 603-609A Nathan Road in Mongkok was the tallest building in Hong Kong when it opened in 1966. Its developer was Sun Hing Realty (新興實業), which was formed by two […]
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York Lo: Continental King Lung (五洲景龍) and Legarleon (利家安) Continental King Lung (CKL) and Legarleon were two leading futures brokerages in HKactive in the late 1970s and early 1980swhich built up extensive global networks of branches and clients within a very short period and the earlier diversified into real estate, movie and records production and electronics before shuttering its futures […]
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York Lo: Tsang Fook Piano (曾福琴行): A Century of Music in Hong Kong HF: York suggested that since the 105 year old firm has just announced its closure in March, maybe we could move the planned posting date of this article forward. Happy to oblige. Left: Front page ad for Tsang Fook Piano’s 50th anniversary and opening of North Point […]
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York Lo: King of Entertainment: Wong Kow (黃球) and his Mayflower (五月花) group of restaurants and nightclubs Left: Wong Kow; Right: Matchbox for the Mayflower Restaurant group in the 1960s which list the phone numbers for all four of its restaurants and Oriental Ballroom. Wong Kow (1921-2017) was a major figure in the HK restaurant and entertainment industry in the […]
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York Lo: International Restaurant & Nightclub Holdings (國際酒樓夜總會置業 Earlier in the group, we have covered Ruby and Oceania Hawaii, two publicly listed restaurant groups from the 1970s and 1980s which had since faded into history. Another major listed restaurant group from the same era was International Restaurant & Nightclub Holdings (hereafter referred to as “IRN Holdings” to differentiate it from […]
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York Lo: Dickson and Hopson: the Tales of Two Handbag Companies Dickson and Hopson are two players in the handbag business in Central with similar sounding names and over half a century of history but catering to two different segments – the earlier focused on the higher end clientele while the latter caters to the mass market with its own […]
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York Lo: Yau Yue Commercial Bank (有餘商業銀行) Leaders of Yau Yue Commercial Bank at its opening ceremony in 1953 (WKYP, 1953-10-23) Founded in 1953, taken over by HSBC in 1966 and closed in 1969, Yau Yue Commercial Bank was one of the less covered Chinese-owned banks in the post-War era thanks to its smaller size and short history and the […]
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York Lo: Lee Hung-tong (李漢忠): Thai Chinese Trader, HK Industrialist and Singer Trade between HK and Thailand had existed since the beginning of the colony and in fact the first trading firm in Nam Pak Hong was Yuen Fat Hong which was engaged in the Siam trade and firms that specialized in trading with Thailand are known as “Siam guilds” […]
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