Commercial Posters – Punk firecrackers, Jazz hair pomade, Red A brand plastic…
Hugh Farmer: Thanks to IDJ for sending in these wonderful adverts. Information about any of the companies or their products would be very useful. I think in particular it would be good to know the exact locations of their factory(ies) in Hong Kong. Click on the poster to enlarge it.
Angel Brand Firecrackers
Manufactured by
Kwong Man Lung
Firecracker FactoryKwong Man Lung appears to have been company in Macau but this advert is labelled Hong Kong. Did they operate out of both places?
Hong Kong Firecracker Punk Manufacturers
The location given for HK Firecrackers Punk Manufacturer is 2249, Chuk Yuen Tung, Kowloon City. Where exactly is/was this? And the inclusion of the word punk is puzzling to me at least. What does it mean? An abbreviation, an odd translation from Chinese, a specific term relating to a type of firecracker?
Mike T adds: punk in relation to firecrackers, the dictionary says: punk, noun ,any prepared substance, usually in stick form, that will smolder and can be used to light fireworks, fuses, etc.Origin: 1680–90, Americanism; origin uncertain
The Kwong Sang Hong Ltd
A well known HK cosmetics company famous for its Two Girls Brand. If as stated below it was established in 1910 but apparently having its origins in the late 19th century, I wonder at which location(s) it manufactured at?http://www.hktdc.com/sourcing/hk_company_directory.htm?companyid=1X02Y0T7&locale=en
Star Industrial
Company Ltd
Established in 1949 Star Industrial claims below to be the largest plastic manufacturer in HK today. Where was its factory(ies) located then and into the period of the advert , the 1950s to 70s?
http://www.reda.com.hk/AboutUs.aspx?lang=en-US
Kwong Man Lung
Firecracker Manufacturing Co Ltd
circa mid 1930s
Again where was this company located?
Ngai Sang Knitting Factory
c1950More information about this or any other knitting firms would be welcomed.
This article was first posted on 28th March 2014.
Re: punk in relation to firecrackers, the dictionary says:
punk
noun
1. any prepared substance, usually in stick form, that will smolder and can be used to light fireworks, fuses, etc.
2. dry, decayed wood that can be used as tinder.
3. conk.
4. a spongy substance derived from fungi; amadou; touchwood.
Origin: 1680–90, Americanism; origin uncertain
The Kwong Man Lung firecracker factory was opened in Mong Kok in 1906, by Yip Lan Chuen. In 1916, it was bought up the “Firecracker King” Chan Lan Fong (1885-1969), who moved it to Pak Tei Street, Ma Tau Kok in 1921. It was Hong Kong’s largest firework producer with 1,000 workers, but closed during WWII.
All but one of the above images were from the books Chinese Label Art (2006) and Label Art of the Chinese World (2012). They are items from the Andrew S. Cahan collection in USA. The books each contain color photos of over 400 items, many of which were manufactured in pre-1960 Hong Kong. The books contain a great deal of historical information as well.