Lui Che Woo – King of Hong Kong Quarries – two newspaper articles

HF: “Lui was a pioneer in the local construction materials industry, setting up the first K Wah company in 1955, and undertaking major land reclamation projects in East Kowloon to create building sites and construct roads.
He became known as the “king of the quarry” after winning quarrying rights in the 60s and introducing machinery to the industry.
He went so far as to buy rock- excavating machines used by the US army when they went on sale in Okinawa, Japan, and mined hills for construction material in Hong Kong.” (1)

On 9th November 2015 the SCMP ran a story about Lui Che Woo which included the following:

In the early 1950s, he learned from his friends that the US army was auctioning military equipment left behind in Okinawa, Japan after the Korean war, including jeeps, GMC trucks and rock-breaking machinery. Sensing the opportunities, he went to Okinawa to check out the goods.

At the time, Hong Kong was subject to an embargo, and it took quite a lot of lobbying to convince the US army to sell him such heavy-duty equipment.

Finally, he sent a full shipment of heavy machinery back to Hong Kong and sold it to the city’s contractors, making what he called his “first pot of gold”.

Riding on this success, he founded his first company – K. Wah Group – in 1955 and started quarrying the mountains for construction material, becoming a major supplier of quarry products and concrete in the city.

By turning stones into gold, Lui earned his reputation as the “King of the Quarry”…(2)

Sources:

1. Man of Conscience – The Standard, 9th November 2015
2. HK entrepreneur Lui Che Woo rises from a tough beginning to run property, hotel and gambling business SCMP 9th November 2015

This article was first posted on 22nd November 2015.

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