Stephen Davies: Further information about the Sainam and her sister ship the Nanning. I now know that the owner, Sai Hing Steam Ship Co., was originally a Chinese firm offering Canton to Macao river ferry services, formed as a syndicate to buy four ex-Swire ships (see SCMP, 9th November 1917, p.11) – the ships were the Nanning, Sainam, San Ui and Lin […]
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York Lo: Camera Men: Shum Ming-hin and Yuen Kang-chuen The history of photography in Hong Kong would not be complete without the profiles of two prominent figures in the camera business – Shum Ming-hin, whose A. Sek & Co was a leading distributor of photographic equipment in HK from the 1920s to the 1960s and his son in law Yuen […]
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IDJ has sent a series of articles about managers at Taikoo Dockyard: The first manager, appointed in 1907, was Philip Forster Nicholson, who was born at West Bolden near Sunderland in 1872, his father being a North East Coast shipowner. In 1898 he joined R.& W. Hawthorne Leslie & Co., Ltd, and in 1902 was appointed their Shipyard Manager at […]
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York Lo: The Kwan family and Yue Ying Can Manufacturing and Asia Can Co Left: Yue Ying and Asia Can co-founder Y.P. Kwan (WKYP, 1963-4-3); Right: profile of Yue Ying Can Manufacturing in 1934 (HK Chinese Factories Survey, 1934) Earlier on the website we covered the Shang family of China Can Company. Another key player and pioneer in the HK […]
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Michele Cottage has kindly sent the photograph below and the following information: The photo below is of Mr and Mrs T S Wong Managing Director of Amoy Canning Hong Kong and Singapore. My grandfather is standing between them. Believed to be taken late in the 1930s or early 1940s in Hong Kong York Lo adds: Very precious picture! Wong (1912-1978) […]
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HF: IDJ has sent several photos. As interesting as the ships themselves, ready to be dismantled, are the backgrounds showing Kwun Tong and Cheung Sha Wan in May 1963. Ship building and ship breaking were once two major industries in Hong Kong, of world importance and employing large numbers of people. There are a few small shipyards still left, mainly […]
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York Lo: Asia Photo Supply (愛雪影音) Asia Photo Supply ad in 1960 promoting its color photofinishing service, specifically Kodak films. The tagline reads everyone can enjoy the fun of color photography. (WKYP, 1960-5-12) Aside from Stereo Ltd., Asia Photo Supply was another pioneer and leader in the photo-finishing business in HK and a leading dealer of photographic equipment from the […]
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HF: The following article has been extracted from the Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography. The article about Ngan Shing-kwan was written by May Holdsworth and Eva Kwok and first published in the Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography, edited by May Holdsworth and Christopher Munn. The publisher, HK University Press, has kindly granted permission for it to be posted here, but retains copyright […]
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Compiled by IDJ Macau, the Portuguese colony forty miles across the Pearl River delta from Hong Kong had a surprisingly long aviation history despite no land based airfield or aerodrome until the 1990s. After visits by travelling American showmen-balloonists demonstrating vertical flight in 1891, it was not until 1920 that French born local entrepreneur Charles de Ricou revealed ambitious plans […]
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Brook Antony Bernacchi (貝納褀) b. 22nd January 1922 d. 22nd September 1996, was born in London and arrived in Hong Kong in 1945 as advisor to Major General FW Festing. “One of Hong Kong’s early democrats, he was an important moderate political voice in the colony from the 1950s to the 1970s” . (1) “In 1947 Bernacchi bought 200 acres […]
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